WITHDRAWN: Changes of Work Trajectory in Later Life: Evidence of 1938-1951 Birth Cohort in South Korea

Background/Purpose: This study analyzed the changes in the middle and old aged work trajectory for the 1938-1951 birth cohort who experienced working life both before and after the period of industrialization in terms of life-course perspective. In Western countries since the 20th century, the number of older workers has rapidly declined due to the expansion of the old-age income security system, economic wealth, and the decrease of jobs. However, the size of the population of older workers has risen in South Korea in spite of rapid industrialization and expansion of the old-age income security system. In order to reorganize the social security system in response to the super-aged society, it is necessary to understand the changes in the labor characteristics of the old-aged in a holistic view. However, previous studies have explored the reasons why elderly workers, unlike in the West, did not decrease (the low retirement income system, the increase of elderly workers in rural areas due to rapid urbanization), and the gradual retirement process of the pre-industrial birth cohort. This study focuses on changes in the work trajectory during later life. The pre-liberation cohort made their careers before industrialization, but post-liberation cohort did so during rapid industrialization and the Asian economic crisis. Thus, these two cohorts show a very different pattern of work trajectory.

Methods: This study analyzed the change of youth work experience and middle and old aged work trajectory using KLoSA (Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging). The subjects of this study were 3,440 people born betwen 1938 and 1951, and analyzed the changes of labor status between 50 and 65 years of age for men and women. The youth and middle-aged employment were typed using descriptive statistics, and then- aged work trajectory was derived by using Group-based trajectory analysis, which is a semi-parametric analysis method to identify different patterns of developmental changes.

Results: As a result, the work trajectories during middle and old ages were classified into five types: early retirement type, regular retirement type, delayed retirement type, gradual retirement type, reentrant long-term work type. The pre-liberation cohort had the highest proportion of regular retirement type, but the liberation cohort had a more diverse retirement process, and the difference was larger among women than men. The work trajectories of the liberation women cohort were more differentiated and unstable. The post-liberation women cohort worked more during their younger years than the former cohort, and were more likely to be categorized under the reentrant long-term work type.

Conclusions and Implications: Our finding shows that the reason why working elderly did not decrease in South Korea is due to the work trajectory differentiation of elderly women. The gender gap between cohorts should be considered for social policy in the super-aged society, and there is a need to expand employment-welfare services that meet the changing characteristics of the elderly. This study provides empirical evidence for the life course perspective that explains the changes in work trajectory