1. Korea’s so-called second baby boomer generation (born between 1964 and 1974, totaling 9.54 million), the country’s largest single age cohort, began reaching the statutory retirement age of 60 last year and will continue to do so in a phased manner over the next decade. Given the shortage of regular wage jobs for retirees, a significant portion of this generation is expected to turn to self-employment to sustain their livelihoods. Consequently, the number of self-employed individuals aged 60 and over is projected to increase from 1.42 million in 2015 to an estimated 2.48 million by 2032, likely leading to a sharp slowdown in the steady decline in the self-employment rate observed since the early 2000s.
2. A key concern is that elderly self-employed individuals are generally less prepared for business ownership than other age groups and are disproportionately concentrated in vulnerable sectors such as transportation and storage, accommodation and food services, and wholesale and retail trade. As a result, they tend to experience lower profitability and carry higher debt burdens. Moreover, many who exit self-employment due to business closures and other factors often transition into temporary employment or day labor, highlighting their limited prospects for economic recovery following business failure. Accordingly, a sharp increase in the number of elderly self-employed individuals poses a significant risk not only to financial stability but also to economic growth.
3. Analysis indicates that many elderly individuals transitioned into self-employment after retirement with “the expectation of being able to continue working for longer than in regular wage employment.”
4. Therefore, to mitigate macroeconomic risks associated with the growing trend of self-employment among retirees, it is crucial for labor, management, and the government to collaborate in fostering an environment where older adults can continue working secure wage jobs in the long term. One viable strategy is to promote post-retirement reemployment accompanied by wage system reforms (Oh et al., 2025).
5. In addition, complementary measures could help alleviate the growing concentration of elderly individuals in self-employment, such as by upscaling the service sector to create regular employment opportunities tailored to older adults, or enhancing job-matching programs between local businesses facing labor shortages and retired seniors.