Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jvalmer]

[markhan]

Not really. I would guess most do it out of financial necessity but some do do it, as previously mentioned, as a "hobby."
How do I know? A middle-age couple just below us lived with their mother and their mother, no matter how much they try to dissuade her from collecting recycled goods, (after all, who would want their mothers to collect thrown out goods in sight of all nosy neighbors?) wont stop it. They claimed that the grandmother goes crazy without any work to do. I guess old habits are hard to break.

[akcrono]

[Caffeinated]

Are the people (usually older) who hunt down discarded newspapers in subways also recycling them?

[NYC_Gal]

When I was a little girl, on garbage day, there were a few people shopping carts going from bin to bin, collecting soda cans and bottles, because each one earned 5 cents. My mom always had me put the soda and bottles in a separate bag, so that it would be easier for them, rather than have them have to sift through it all. I always felt terrible that they needed to do this for a living.

I've also seen ajossis watering down the cardboard, to make it heavier.

[FDNY]

I think the Korean government doesn't take wonderful care of these people because governing and babysitting are two different things. I don't expect the government to take care of me when I am older and therefore, I do my utmost to avoid paying taxes and/or minimizing them.

As for these people collecting cardboard, I think it is quite obvious they have lived, or are living, indigent, slovenly lifestyles. If they had planned ahead and taken advantage of compound interest, tax free investment plans etc., they would not be in this position.

[liveinkorea316]

[Kurtz]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/10/291_69271.html

Things are getting better, slowly, but for those who are old and poor now, they are basically out of luck.

"Moreover, the country has launched a basic old-age pension program to help the elderly obtain pension benefits. The program is to offer up to 84,000 won in monthly payments to seniors aged 65 or over. "

[OneWayTraffic]

[Steelrails]

First off there is a huge generation gap going on here and I don't think some of us 'get it'.

One, many of these old people ARE doing it simply to have something to do and stay limber. Koreans don't always work smart, but boy do they know about working hard, and that is what this is for some. It's to keep working, to keep active, and to claim that one has a job.

Being on the government dole is not looked upon too highly here. We say, why not throw them in an old folks home, sorry but to many of them that would be torture and inhumane. Maintaining the dignity of being an able bodied working member of society is more important then being able not to work.

This isn't a strictly Korean thing. Growing up one of my neighbors was a lady in her late 80s into her 90s who until the day she died went out and worked in the garden and the field and ran her farm. It's a work ethic born of habit and leaner times. This lady had long-term endurance strength that would put people in their 20s to shame. Small wonder that she died close to 100.

Another example was one of the teachers at my high school who went around everyday sifting through the trash collecting pop bottles for the deposit money. People laughed at him until we realized that for two hours of work everyday he raked in about 15,000 a year off of it. He did it because he was one of those people who saw free money being thrown away and all it required was work ethic and a system.

I know this whole idea of wanting to work seems alien to us, but its how people the world over still are or in our cases, used to be.

I do think this work ethic and motivation to stay active and limber will have terrific benefits for ones life in your elderly years. I hope that I am physically and emotionally still with it enough that in my 70s I could haul a cart around and do stuff like that.

[Stalin84]

[jvalmer]

[Steelrails]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[eamo]