3 Million Elderly Workers in Non-Regular Jobs... Wage Gap with Regular Employees Widens to Record 1.8 Million Won

One in Three Wage Earners is a Non-Regular Worker... Overall Scale Also at Its Largest

Regular Employees Earn 3.896 Million Won, Non-Regular Employees Earn 2.088 Million Won... Gap Has Steadily Widened Since 2004

Proportion of Elderly Workers This Year 22%... Quadrupled in 40 Years (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Yoon Dong-jin = The proportion of elderly workers and entrepreneurs has reached a record high this year. According to data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Statistics Korea on the 26th, the average monthly number of employed individuals aged 60 and above from January to last month was 6,399,000, accounting for 22.4% of all employed individuals. This proportion is the highest on record. The photo shows the Seoul Western Employment and Welfare Plus Center in Mapo-gu on this day. 2024.8.26 mon@yna.co.kr

With the number of non-regular workers reaching a record high this year, the number of non-regular workers aged 60 and over has surpassed 3 million for the first time.

The wage gap between regular and non-regular employees exceeded 1.8 million won, marking the largest disparity since statistics began to be compiled.

The National Data Office announced the '2025 August Economically Active Population Survey on Working Conditions' on the 22nd, which contained this information.

◇ 8.56 Million Non-Regular Workers... Record High for Those Aged 60 and Over

As of August, there were 8,568,000 non-regular workers, an increase of 110,000 from the same month last year.

This is the largest number since the statistics were first compiled in 2003 and marks the second consecutive year of increase since 2023.

The number of regular workers increased by 160,000 to 13,845,000.

With increases in both regular and non-regular workers, the proportion of non-regular workers among the 22,413,000 wage earners was 38.2%, the same as last year. This is the second-highest figure since 2019. The previous highest was in August 2021 (38.4%).

By age group, non-regular workers aged 60 and over increased by 233,000 to 3,044,000, surpassing 3 million for the first time. This is the highest number since the statistics were compiled in 2003. It is also the largest increase in four years, following a rise of 270,000 in 2021.

The proportion of those aged 60 and over among all non-regular workers rose by 2.3 percentage points (p) year-on-year to 35.5%.

This survey also provided a breakdown of those aged 60 and over into '60-69 years old' and '70 years and over'. The number of non-regular workers aged 70 and over was 1,205,000, similar to the number in their 40s (1,204,000).

Song Jun-haeng, head of the Employment Statistics Division at the National Data Office, explained, "The 60s age group has been influenced not only by population growth but also by an increase in employment rates. There was a significant rise in the healthcare and social welfare sectors, and a high participation rate in government-led direct employment programs for the elderly, most of whom are non-regular workers."

Non-regular workers in their 30s also increased by 66,000, accounting for 13.3% of all non-regular workers.

Conversely, the numbers decreased in the 40s (-106,000), under 29 years old (-58,000), and 50s (-25,000).

By industry, the healthcare and social welfare sector (210,000) and transportation and storage (39,000) saw increases, while accommodation and food services (-58,000), construction (-51,000), and wholesale and retail trade (-41,000) saw decreases.

It appears that sectors affected by domestic demand, such as accommodation/food services and wholesale/retail trade, as well as the construction industry facing a continuing downturn, contributed to the decrease in non-regular workers.

By gender, women accounted for 57.4% of all non-regular workers, reaching a record high.

Proportion of Elderly Workers This Year 22%... Quadrupled in 40 Years (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Yoon Dong-jin = The proportion of elderly workers and entrepreneurs has reached a record high this year. According to data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Statistics Korea on the 26th, the average monthly number of employed individuals aged 60 and above from January to last month was 6,399,000, accounting for 22.4% of all employed individuals. This proportion is the highest on record. The photo shows the Seoul Western Employment and Welfare Plus Center in Mapo-gu on this day. 2024.8.26 mon@yna.co.kr

◇ Non-Regular Workers Earn Half of Regular Employees' Wages... Wage Gap is 859,000 Won Excluding 'Hourly Workers'

The average monthly wage of non-regular workers over the past three months was 2,088,000 won, an increase of 40,000 won from last year.

Regular workers earned 3,896,000 won, an increase of 100,000 won.

Both figures are the highest since statistics began to be compiled in 2004.

The wage difference between regular and non-regular employees was 1,808,000 won, a record high.

The wage gap between the two groups has been steadily widening since 2004 (616,000 won).

The wage ratio of non-regular workers to regular workers was 53.6%, a slight decrease from 54.0% last year.

The average monthly wage of non-regular workers, excluding hourly workers, exceeded 3 million won for the first time at 3,037,000 won.

In this case, the wage difference with regular employees is 859,000 won, and non-regular workers earn 78% of regular workers' wages, which is the same as last year, according to the National Data Office.

Hourly workers are defined as those who work more than one hour less than the prescribed working hours of employees doing the same job at the same workplace.

Song Jun-haeng, head of the division, commented, "Non-regular workers include a considerable number of hourly workers. They have relatively lower wages due to fewer working hours compared to regular employees, and this significantly impacts the average wage of all non-regular workers. Therefore, this aspect must be considered comprehensively."

The average monthly wage for all wage earners was 3,205,000 won, an increase of 77,000 won from last year.

Non-regular workers who voluntarily chose their employment status accounted for 67.8% of the total, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year.

The reasons cited were: ▲ Satisfaction with working conditions (57.9%) ▲ Stable job (22.8%) ▲ Job change (12.1%) ▲ Earning income commensurate with effort or flexible working hours (7.2%).

The average tenure at their current workplace for non-regular workers was 2 years and 11 months, an increase of 1 month from last year. The average weekly working hours were 28.2 hours, an increase of 0.6 hours. Yonhap News