Report flags up ageing workforce worry for South Korea
A recent study in South Korea has suggested that manufacturing industries in the Asian country, including the leather and footwear, face a threat from having a rapidly ageing workforce.
The report was part of the work of a wider programme called the Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), which the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry is running.
Its authors found that the average age of workers in South Korea in 2022 was 46.8 years, but they expressed concern the country’s ageing population in general will mean this will increase to 50 by 2030 and to 53.7 years in 2050.
They also found that a number of prominent manufacturing sectors already have high numbers of workers who are over the age of 50. These included leather and footwear, an industry that has 596% of employees over 50 at the moment.
SGI warned that an ageing workforce can hinder productivity, citing a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund.
