Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions attend a press conference calling for legislation to raise the legal retirement age to 65 at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on December 3 last year. Reporter Han Soo-bin

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended the Prime Minister and the Minister of Employment and Labor to raise the legal retirement age to 65.

The NHRC said on March 10 that the legal retirement age under the Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and Promotion of Employment of the Elderly should be raised from the current 60 to 65, taking into account the size of the workplace. It said, “The gap between the legal retirement age of 60 and the age of 65, when the elderly start receiving national pension benefits, will lead to an income break for more than five years, which seriously threatens the individual's economic stability," adding, "We need to push for an increase in the retirement age to prevent an income gap."

The NHRC said it took into account the fact that Korea’s poverty and unemployment rates among people aged 65 and older are at the highest among OECD member countries, and that the Supreme Court decided en banc to raise the maximum age at which people can “legally” perform physical labor from 60 to 65.

The commission recommended that government support measures such as wage support policies for the elderly and support systems for the salary peak system should be put in place to ensure that the extension of the legal retirement age does not lead to negative effects such as a decrease in recruitment of young people. The salary peak system is a system that lowers the wage level from a certain point before the retirement age under the premise of guaranteeing the retirement age.

THe NHRC said, “In order for the increase in the legal retirement age to be effective without leading to negative effects, such as a decrease in new hires among young people, the government needs to make efforts to reduce the burden on both companies and workers by implementing wage support policies for the elderly.” It also recommended that companies that expand jobs for the elderly by introducing the salary peak system should be provided with tax benefits, financial support, and labor cost support.