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Video Description

Type: KIHASA Policy Featurette

Topic: Pension Age Should Reflect Healthy Life Expectancy

Guest Speaker: Kim Woo-chang, Professor, KAIST

Transcript

We often discuss those who are excluded from pension benefits. Even those who frequently engage in these discussions tend to talk very casually about the pension eligibility age. But let me emphasize this again―income and wealth are correlated with health, and withholding pensions until the age of 68 seems incredibly harsh to me. Assuming that the average "healthy age" is around 65, we can also realistically assume that those who receive only a small pension may have an even shorter healthy life expectancy. We're essentially forcing them to work until they're 67, when they may already be in poor health. The question of whether there are jobs available for them at all is a separate labor issue, but even if they can find work, that means that they are forced to work until 67. So, just to say, "Oh, life expectancy has gone up three years, so people can work two or three years longer," without taking those factors into account, seems to me to be very cruel.