Honda Tamiko, a 93-year-old janitor at a McDonald's branch in Kumamoto, Japan, is one of the oldest of 220,000 McDonald's crew in Japan. She chooses to keep working, saying 'Humans are animals, after all. We have to keep moving as much as we can.'
As people live longer, they are staying healthy for longer and working longer, too. Japan and South Korea, two of the most rapidly ageing countries, are at the forefront of this transition. Nearly 40% of South Koreans and more than 25% of Japanese aged above 65 remain at work, the highest rates in the OECD.
However, labour markets and social systems struggle to make the most of those who can work and to support those who cannot. Many people in both Japan and South Korea keep working out of necessity, with over half of elderly employees in Japan saying they work for income.
Some companies are making concerted efforts to use older workers, adjusting roles and responsibilities to accommodate them. Others are rethinking their hiring practices, recognising the value of older workers' experience and skills.
Yet, too often those who want to keep working face high barriers and unpalatable options. Seniority-based wage and promotion systems are still common in Japan and South Korea, making it costly for companies to keep workers on full-time staff contracts.
Policymakers want to encourage these trends, recognising that keeping people employed for longer helps compensate for the shrinking number of young people in both countries, and reduces health and nursing-care costs.
Getting the most out of those who can keep working while providing support to those who cannot will require a more ambitious redesign of social systems and hiring practices.
