Relationships between Elderly Employment and Labor Market Outcomes of Young and Prime-Age Adults: Evidence from Korean Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Data

Bun Song Lee , University of Arkansas --Fort Smith
Hoolda Kim, Black Hills State University
Eunyoung Choi, Seoul City Chamber
Nhi Pham, University of Arkansas --Fort Smith

Along with an increase in the aging population, the elderly poverty rate is on the rise in Korea. As older people extend working years and delay retirement to secure their financial stability, it raises a concern that an increase in elderly employment may cause high unemployment among the youth. To understand the relationship between elderly employment and labor market outcomes of other age groups, we use the 1998-2017 Korea Labor and Income Panel Study and then the 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 Korean Population Census for robustness checks. Using a logistic regression model, we find that elderly employment has no relationship with youth employment but has a statistically significant relationship with prime-age employment that varies by gender. While prime-age men are likely to substitute for older men, prime-age women are likely to complement both older men and older women. Similar results hold with respect to unemployment, hours of work, and weekly wages. These relationships are more pronounced between older adults and prime-age adults of the same gender and with the same level of education. The strongest substitutability is found between older male workers and prime-age male workers for low-skilled jobs and between older female workers and older male workers for high-skilled jobs. Regardless of skill level, both older male and female workers are likely to complement young and prime-age female workers. Although the magnitude may vary by industry sector, the largest gender difference is found between the employment of prime-age and older adults in the sales and service sectors.

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 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality