South Korea’s employment tally for 60s surpasses those in 20s for the first time in 2017 due to the fast aging society and a surge in the number of the youth staying at home.

According to data released by Statistic Korea on Sunday, the number of 60 years or older people with jobs rose 257,000 to 4,210,000 in 2017 from a year ago, surpassing the employment tally for 20s of 4,063,000.

Participation in economic activities of each age group has changed dramatically as a part of the aging society phenomenon, the office explained. Seniors over 60s increased by 495,000 last year, leading to the growth of the total population and the number of employed among the age group hovering above 10 million and 4 million, respectively. Those in 20s with jobs, however, stayed subdued, contributing to the change.

Meanwhile, job scarcity for young South Koreans was worst-ever last year with the jobless rate of those under 30s hitting 9.9 percent, the highest since Statistics Korea started compiling such data in 2000.

By Lee Yu-sup and Lee Ha-yeon

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