November 2025
06Nov

More than half of Koreans distrust national pension amid backlash over premium hike plan

More than half of Koreans distrust the national pension system, with most respondents viewing current contribution levels as burdensome and opposing planned premium increases, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF). In the survey, 55.7 percent of respondents said they do not trust the National Pension Service, exceeding the 44.3 percent who said they do by 11.4 percentage points. Distrust was particularly pronounced among younger generations, with 69.2 percent of respondents in their 20s and 74.7...

November 6, 2025
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September 2025
22Sep

Aging in the U.S. and Korea: Same Sphere, Different Realities

Both the United States and South Korea are experiencing rapid population aging, but the patterns and social responses differ greatly. The U.S., already moving beyond an “aged society” into a “super-aged society,” is turning this change into a field of opportunity. Korea, meanwhile, is aging at the fastest pace in the world, but its institutions and perceptions still lag behind. In particular, when we look at five areas where the U.S. has shown distinctive developments—△labor market △long-term care & healthcare...

September 22, 2025
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19Sep

The Impact of Job Exposure to Artificial Intelligence on the Korean Labor Market in 2020

By Yeseul Lee & Hyeonjun Hwang This study examines the impact of artificial intelligence exposure on wage and employment outcomes in the Korean labor market in 2020. We propose the Artificial Intelligence Exposure Score (AIES) by integrating 27,921 Korean AI patents from 2011 and 2020 with O*NET task descriptions through Sentence-BERT natural language processing techniques. This approach creates occupation-level exposure measures that reflect Korea-specific innovation patterns. Using data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), we estimate log-linear...

September 19, 2025
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August 2025
25Aug

South Korea:New strategy to encourage young citizens to enrol in national pension system

The South Korean government is promoting a new policy called first-time youth national pension by supporting three months of insurance premiums for youth turning 18 years old when they first enrol in the national pension. According to the ministry of health and welfare the three months of premium payment support will be available to those between 18 to 26 years of age entering the scheme for the first time. The policy will apply to those who turn 18 in 2027....

August 25, 2025
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July 2025
28Jul

South Korea. Samsung Securities launches pension savings event with gift certificates until 31st

This event targets new customers who sign up for Samsung Securities' pension and existing customers, providing gift certificates based on the amount deposited. The event offers various benefits based on the net deposit amount. The net deposit amount is calculated by combining the ▲new deposits ▲transfer from other companies’ pensions ▲conversion from matured Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) during the period. First, the 'Pension Savings Together Event' is an event that awards gift certificates based on the net deposit amount of at...

July 28, 2025
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14Jul

South Korea Boomers Having Their Wages Cut for Continuing to Work

South Korea's older workers are facing steep wage cuts and insecure work conditions simply for staying on the job past a certain age—a reality drawing criticism from rights groups. Why It Matters South Korea has one of the highest rates of elderly poverty in the developed world. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), 38 percent of people over 65 live in relative poverty. The nation's "peak wage" system and mandatory retirement policies are pushing many older workers into lower-paid, more precarious jobs, even as...

July 14, 2025
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11Jul

National Pension Fund and Stock Liquidity: Evidence from Korea

By Eunyoung Cho & Cheol-Won Yang We investigate the impact of the national pension’s trading on individual stock liquidity. While prior research has primarily focused on the effects of national pension funds on market performance or volatility, this paper shifts attention to liquidity, a relatively underexplored dimension of market quality. Utilizing detailed transaction-level data from the National Pension Service (NPS) of Korea between 2010 and 2019, we assess the relationship between NPS trading activity and stock liquidity by employing both...

July 11, 2025
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10Jul

South Korea. New Proposal Seeks to Extend Employer Pension Contributions to Gig Workers

South Korea is weighing a significant pension reform that could bring platform workers — such as food delivery riders and chauffeur-for-hire drivers — under the same pension contribution scheme as regular employees, with their platforms potentially covering half of their premiums. A new report released Tuesday by the National Pension Research Institute calls for extending employer-like responsibilities to digital platforms, arguing that most platform workers operate under economically dependent conditions despite being legally classified as independent contractors. Based on a survey...

July 10, 2025
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June 2025
24Jun

South Korea plans end to lump-sum retirement payouts for workers

The South Korean government is pushing forward with a major overhaul of how workers receive retirement benefits, aiming to replace the longstanding lump-sum severance system with mandatory pension-style disbursements across all workplaces. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has proposed a five-phase plan that would require all employers—beginning with large corporations and eventually extending to the smallest businesses—to transition to the retirement pension system. Once fully implemented, workers would no longer be able to receive their retirement pay as a...

June 24, 2025
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17Jun

South Korea: Insurers widen voluntary retirement schemes amid digital shift and M&A activity

The insurance industry is likely to see a rise in voluntary retirements in the latter half of this year, driven by ongoing digital transformation and a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to industry sources on Monday, reported The Korea Times. As companies restructure their workforces during integration processes, the focus is shifting toward incentivised voluntary departures rather than forced layoffs. Hanwha General Insurance, currently preparing to complete its merger with Carrot General Insurance by September, is expected to follow this...

June 17, 2025
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