Don’t let the economic backbone suffer

The economic waist should be strong to sustain the country.

People in their 40s who make up the core of the working-age population are fast thinning, further weakening the labor market. According to Statistics Korea, the population of the age group has been decreasing in the job market from 2015 to 2023. Between 2005 and 2019, they were the largest workforce on the payroll. But with the country’s rapid aging, they surrendered the top place to people in their 50s in 2022 and will likely be outpaced by those aged 65 or older relatively soon.

Population decline is the primary reason behind the 40-something group’s fallout from the job market. The number of the employed for the group decreased 9.2 percent last year compared to 2014. But the pace of their thinning in the labor market is faster than the population decline in the age group. During the period, the population of those in their 40s fell 8.7 percent. Their dropout is alarming for the job market. During the same period, employed people in their 50s and 60s increased by 12.3 percent and 80.5 percent, respectively. People in their 20s increased 5.1 percent in the job market despite the 1.1 percent decline in their population. Employees in their 30s on the payroll during the period fell by 7.7 percent, but that was still a slower pace than the population decline of 13.4 percent.

Reduced jobs in manufacturing and wholesale and retail pushed the 40-something workforce out of the labor market. According to the Korea Employers Federation, 154,000 in their 40s lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector, while 301,000 lost jobs in the wholesale and retail category last year compared to 2014.

Many in the age group had been working in traditional manufacturing, construction and services — areas vulnerable to machine replacements due to the ongoing digital transition from the advent of AI and other smart solutions. Those workers were excluded in government policies pivoted towards their older and younger counterparts. They are also the first to receive the redundancy notice under the rigid seniority-based salary system, making that age group the weakest class in the labor market.

Workers in their 40s are crucial to our national economy. At the peak of productiveness, they must take responsibility for their family — and social sustainability — through consumption and tax payment. If they are pushed out of the job market, our households and the national economy can be shaken due to ramifications on industrial and labor competitiveness.

To revive their role, systems must be redressed to enable their re-entries through training. The rigid wage system and work conditions must be reformed as a part of industrial restructuring oriented toward creating jobs. The economic waist should be strong to sustain the country.