among those aged 70 years or older than the rates among those who are in the initial stage of old age (that is,
those aged 65-69) is a clear indication that older people's life is getting harder over time 'to the extent that they
are neither able nor willing to lead a life'.
５
The ROK entered the age of the lowest low fertility (below 1.3 in total fertility rate) in 2001 and
experienced a fertility shock of 1.08 (fertility rate of 1.08) in 2005. The fertility rate has since increased slightly,
but still remains as low as 1.17 in 2016.
６
The Ministry of the Interior opened a new website (http://birth.korea.go.kr) and disclosed ‘the ROK
fertility map’ in December 2016, for the purpose of increasing fertility rate. This map takes the form of a
colourful graph which ranks different local governments according to the number of women at childbearing age
and the fertility rate in the corresponding regions. Faced with the growing public criticism that the map is based
on a sexist idea which regards women as a means of childbearing, the Ministry closed the web page, and only
‘the information note: under construction of the page’ can be found now on the website.
７
Although men and women have almost the same employment rate of around 59% or women have a
little higher rate in the age group of 20-29 years, the gender gap in employment rate grows dramatically starting
from the age of 30 years, which can be explained by women’s career breaks due to their childbirth or childrearing. Men’s employment rate in their 30s records more or less 90%, which is a rapid rise from the rate in their
20s; whereas women’s employment rate in their 30s is lower than the rate in their 20s. Although female
employment rate in their 40s is higher than the rates in their 20s and 30s, in a typical M-shaped trend, it is
worried that most of the jobs among the women in their 40s are in non-regular employment, whose quality is
lower than that of the jobs held by men in the same age group or women in their 20s. In particular, the data
released by the Statistics Korea show that the bottom point of employment rate among women in their 30s
shifted from the early 30s (34 years or younger) to the late 30s (35 years or older), which reflects the reality that
the women who succeeded in finding a good job in their 20s tend to give birth to a child at a later age than in the
past.
Classification
Gender
Age group
20~29
Men
30~39
40~49
20~29
Women
30~39
40~49
Employment rate by year and by gender
Employment rate by year (%)
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
59.2
58.4
58.2
58.3
57.3
90.3
89.1
89.5
89.8
90.3
91.8
90.9
91.2
91.6
91.7
59.1
58.0
58.3
58.7
58.8
54.7
52.7
53.7
53.7
54.5
64.7
64.1
64.2
64.9
64.6
2013
55.7
90.2
92.0
57.8
55.5
64.6
2014
55.8
90.9
92.7
59.0
56.3
65.1
(Source: Statistics Korea, Survey of Economically Active Population 2016)
Since the inauguration of the current Government in 2013, youth employment rate among those aged 15-29
recorded slight increases to 39.7% (in 2013), 40.7% (in 2014) and 41.5% (in 2015), but youth unemployment
rate also increased to 8.0% (in 2013), 9.0% (in 2014) and 9.2% (in 2015). As the 9.2% youth unemployment rate
of 2015 is the highest in the recent decade and this upward trend in youth unemployment is likely to continue
for a while, youth unemployment is emerging as a serious social problem.
It should be noted that the “Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA)” stresses that
support for income security and economic activities should be provided even before people start their old-age
life and the issue of right to health should not be limited to ‘currently’ older people but should be expanded to
younger generations so that the latter may ‘start an old-age life in good health conditions’. ‘Low fertility’ is a
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