Quality jobs for retirees crucial for super-aged society 은퇴자 위한 양질의 일자리중요

[김우정]

초고령사회로 달려가고있는 한국에서 은퇴자를 위한 양질의 일자리가 중요하다는 기사입니다.
양질의 일자리는 젊은 이들에게도 부족한 것이 현실입니다.
은퇴자들이 은퇴전에 하던 일과 연관성이 있는 일을 찾는 것은 쉽지않아 보입니다.
그러나 그들의 값진 경험을 잚은 세대들이 공유하는 제도적인 장치는 필요해 보입니다.
 
Quality jobs for retirees crucial as Korea quickly heads toward super-aged society
한국이 초고령사회로 가면서 은퇴자들을 위한 양질의 일자리가 중요 

By Yi Whan-woo 이환우 기자
Posted : 2024-07-20 04:00 Updated : 2024-07-20 17:16
Korea Times

A security guard in his 60s sorts recyclable materials as part of his duties at an apartment complex in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, in photo taken in 2020. Korea Times file 경기도 안양의 한 아파트 단지에서 60대 경비원이 2020년 촬영한 사진에서 업무의 하나로 재활용품을 분류하고 있다. 코리아 타임즈 자료

 

Older adults struggle to land jobs that match their pre-retirement careers
노인들은 은퇴 전의 직업과 일치하는 직업을 얻기 위해 고군분투

Shin Jung-rok, a retired mid-level official from a district office in Gyeonggi Province, recently left his last job as a security guard at an office building in Seoul.
경기도의 한 구청에서 퇴직한 중간 간부인 신정록씨는 최근 서울의 한 사옥에서 경비원이라는 마지막 직장을 떠났다.

He says he desperately needed a job after retirement because he found the severance pay he received to “not be sufficient” to survive.
자신이 받은 퇴직금이 생존을 위해 '부족하다'는 것을 발견했기 때문에 퇴직 후 일자리가 절실했다는 것이다.

“However, being a security guard was not my choice. Instead, it was the only option that I was left with,” he said, adding no employers were interested in capitalizing on his "decades of expertise in the civil service.”
그는 "그러나 경비원이 되는 것은 내 선택이 아니었다. 대신 그것이 내게 남은 유일한 선택이었다,"며 어떤 고용주도 그의 "수십년 간의 공무원 업무 전문성"을 이용하는 데 관심이 없다고 덧붙였다.

“And for people like me, who mostly worked in an office, a job as a security guard was a lot to take on as it is physical demanding by my standard. It was too much for me to carry out the tasks required,” he added.
"그리고 주로 사무실에서 일하던 저 같은 사람들에게 경비원이라는 직업은 제 기준으로는 육체적으로 힘든 일이기 때문에 감당하기 힘든 일이었다. 필요한 일을 수행하는 것은 나에게 무리였다."라고 그는 덧붙였다.

Shin is among the increasing number of retirees in their 60s or older, who are forced to continue work after retirement as they have insufficient money to survive in Korea where life expectancy is the OECD’s third highest at 83.53 years.
신씨는 기대수명이 83.53세로 경제협력개발기구(OECD) 3위인 우리나라에서 생존할 돈이 부족해 퇴직 후에도 일을 계속할 수밖에 없는 60대 이상 은퇴자 중 한 명이다.

They want to make use of their career experiences in their post-retirement job but can’t do so, because many employers deem that they are not as productive as younger employees.
많은 고용주들이 자신들이 젊은 직원들만큼 생산적이지 않다고 생각하기 때문에, 그들은 퇴직 후 직업에서 자신들의 경력을 활용하기를 원하지만 그렇게 할 수 없다.

As a result, they are mostly left with unwanted manual labor jobs, which therefore fail to motivate them. This impacts productivity and affects their ability to contribute to the economy in a personally meaningful way.
이로 인해 이들은 대부분 원치 않는 육체노동 일자리로 남게 되어 동기부여에 실패한다. 이는 생산성에 영향을 미치며, 개인적으로 의미 있는 방식으로 경제에 기여할 수 있는 능력에도 영향을 미친다.

A cleaner in her 60s cleans a urinal in a men's bathroom of an office building in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District in this photo taken in 2020. Korea Times file 2020년 촬영된 이 사진에서 서울 영등포구의 한 사옥 남자 화장실에서 60대 청소부가 소변기를 청소하고 있다. 코리아 타임즈 자료

“In that regard, quality jobs for retirees is a matter of the national interest and the public and private sectors must work closely together for elderly citizens to go on with their careers,” Chung-Ang University economics professor Ma Kang-rae said.
마강래 중앙대 경제학과 교수는 "그런 점에서 은퇴자들의 양질의 일자리는 국가적인 관심사이고 노인들이 경력을 이어가기 위해서는 민관이 긴밀히 협력해야 한다"고 말했다.

He referred to an analytical report released last month by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), a government-affiliated think tank, on jobs for middle-aged and older people.
정부산하 싱크탱크인 한국개발연구원(KDI)이 지난달 발표한 중장년층 일자리 분석 보고서를 참고한 것이다.

The report showed that people, as they get older, had a higher possibility of obtaining jobs that are not relevant to their aptitude, talent, passion and other factors that are deemed necessary to optimize productivity.
보고서는 사람들이 나이가 들수록 자신의 적성, 재능, 열정, 그리고 생산성을 최적화하기 위해 필요하다고 생각되는 다른 요소들과 관련이 없는 직업을 얻을 가능성이 더 높다는 것을 보여주었다.

The gap between ideal and actual jobs for these workers, according to the report, especially widened as these people reached 50 or older.
보고서에 따르면 이들 근로자의 이상적인 일자리와 실제적인 일자리 사이의 격차는 특히 이들이 50세 이상이 되면서 더 벌어졌다.

“The age groups apparently include those who are retired, suggesting the labor market is failing to make use of retirees as capable human resources,” the report read.
보고서는 "이들 연령층은 은퇴자들을 포함한 것으로 보이며, 이는 노동시장이 은퇴자들을 유능한 인재로 활용하지 못하고 있음을 시사한다"고 지적했다.

In a statement, Worker’s Solidarity, an advocacy group for workers, called on the government to “foster a more welcoming environment for the older workers.”
노동자들을 위한 옹호 단체인 노동자 연대는 성명에서 정부에 "고령 노동자들을 위한 더 많은 환영 환경을 조성하라"고 요구했다.

A jobseeker goes over a list of available jobs during a job fair for seniors in Seoul's Mapo District in this photo taken in 2023. Yonhap 2023년 서울 마포구 노인 일자리 박람회에서 구직자가 취업 가능한 일자리 목록을 살펴보고 있다. 연합

“It is urgent to take corresponding measure as seniors inevitably make up a larger portion of the country’s workforce amid the dwindling birthrate,” it said, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety earlier this month.
정부는 이달 초 행안부 자료를 인용해 "출산율이 감소하는 가운데 고령자가 필연적으로 국가 노동력의 더 큰 부분을 차지하는 만큼 이에 상응하는 조치를 취하는 것이 시급하다,"고 밝혔다.

The data indicated that as of July 10, there were 10,000,062 people aged 65 or older, making up 19.5 percent of the nation's total population of nearly 51.27 million.
이 자료에 따르면 7월 10일 현재 65세 이상 인구는 1,000,062명으로 우리나라 전체 인구 5,127만 명의 19.5%를 차지하고 있다.

The rate of older adults has consistently grown, from 11.8 percent in 2013 to 15.5 percent in 2019 and 17.5 percent in 2022.
노인비율은 2013년 11.8%에서 2019년 15.5%, 2022년 17.5%로 꾸준히 증가해왔다.

It was the first time that the number of older adults surpassed the 10 million mark, bringing Korea just a step away from becoming a super-aged society, which is defined as a nation that has more than 20 percent of its population aged 65 or over.
노인 인구가 1,000만 명을 돌파한 것은 처음으로 65세 이상 인구가 20% 이상인 국가로 규정되는 초고령사회에 한 걸음 다가섰다.

The data added to concerns over Korea’s demographic crisis, characterized as possessing the world’s lowest birthrate.
이 자료는 세계에서 가장 낮은 출산율을 보유하고 있는 것으로 특징지어지는 한국의 인구 위기에 대한 우려를 더했다.

In 2023, the total fertility rate or the average number of expected births from a woman in her lifetime slid to a record low of just 0.72, according to Statistics Korea.
통계청에 따르면 2023년 여성의 합계출산율 또는 생애 평균 기대출산 수는 사상 최저치인 0.72명으로 떨어졌다.

The rate was far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.
이 비율은 이민없이 안정적인 인구를 유지하는 데 필요한 여성 1인당 출생아 수 2.1명에 크게 못 미쳤다.

The rate is projected to drop to another fresh low of 0.68 in 2024, considering the quarterly rate of fertility beaks its own record. In the January-March period, it retreated to an all-time low of 0.76 percent. The rate tends to fall even further toward the end of the year.
분기별 출산율이 자체 최고치를 기록한 점을 고려하면 2024년에는 또다시 최저치인 0.68명으로 떨어질 것으로 전망된다. 1~3월에는 사상 최저치인 0.76%로 후퇴했다. 연말로 갈수록 출산율은 더욱 떨어지는 경향이 있다.

Asked about possible solutions to help older adults land quality jobs that match their pre-retirement careers, professor Ma said that “removing unconscious bias against senior workers is crucial.”
마교수는 고령자들이 퇴직 전 경력에 걸맞은 양질의 일자리를 얻을 수 있도록 할 수 있는 해결책을 묻는 질문에 "고령 근로자에 대한 무의식적 편견을 제거하는 것이 중요하다"고 말했다.

“Employers tend to think that seniors who seek post-retirement jobs are not as committed as young peers in terms of work mindset,” the professor said, adding “Employers thus regard them as those who are merely working for pocket money.”
이 교수는 "고용주들은 은퇴 후 일자리를 찾는 노인들이 업무마인드 면에서 젊은 또래들만큼 헌신적이지 않다고 생각하는 경향이 있다,"며 "고용주들은 따라서 이들을 단순히 용돈을 벌기 위해 일하는 사람들로 여긴다."고 말했다.

“But in an aged society, such biases will work against employers and they should treat seniors equally,” he said.
그는 "그러나 고령화사회에서 이런 편견은 고용주들에게 불리하게 작용할 것이며 노인들을 동등하게 대우해야 한다,"고 말했다.

Worker’s Solidarity maintains that job matching for seniors is a more urgent matter in rural areas, many of which are on the brink of becoming extinct as young people leave for Seoul or other large cities in search of better jobs and higher living standards.
노동자연대는 고령자 일자리 매칭이 더 시급한 문제라는 입장을 고수하고 있는데, 이 중 상당수는 청년들이 더 나은 일자리와 더 높은 생활수준을 찾아 서울이나 다른 대도시로 떠나면서 소멸위기에 처해 있다.

Of the more than 10 million Koreans aged 65 or older, 5.51 million were living outside the greater Seoul area, surpassing those living within the area at 4.49 million.
65세 이상 한국인 1천만 명 중 551만 명이 서울 이외 지역에 거주하고 있어 449만 명을 넘어섰다.

By region, South Jeolla Province had the highest ratio of older adults at 26.7 percent, followed by North Gyeongsang Province at 25.4 percent and Gangwon Province at 24.7 percent.
지역별로는 전남이 26.7%로 노인 비율이 가장 높았고 경북 25.4%, 강원 24.7% 순이었다.

The city of Sejong had the lowest ratio at just 11.3 percent, while Seoul had approximately 19 percent.
세종시의 비율은 11.3%로 가장 낮았고, 서울시의 비율은 약 19%였다.

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