Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NohopeSeriously]

As one of my fellow church members said: Get ready, South Korea. You will be poorer than Vietnam in 10 years.

[Julius]

[KimchiNinja]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

This problem isn't unique to Korea. I expect taxes to go up everywhere to pay for the elderly.

Actually, I'd say, the younger you are, the more screwed you are. The problems will get progressively worse because of the decline in birthrate, increased housing costs, increased university costs, and increased taxes.

I am 40, and find housing is very expensive, taxes are high (in Canada), and I expect the govt. pension will be gone when I reach retirement. But still I'm better off than the 30 year olds or 20 year olds. They have those same problems plus, higher unemployment levels, and student debts. And the governments just keeps adding public debt (which I see as generational theft, and morally wrong).

[No_hite_pls]

Korean Baby Boomers have it pretty good actually. I agree that the younger generations will have it hard in west too. The article said that almost all had NPS and most had savings. Some even had all three; NPS, savings, and a private pension. They'll be alright.

[Weigookin74]

[Steelrails]

Everyone claims doom and gloom on this population issue, but why do I have the sneaking suspicion that doom and gloom is for the investment class that relies on cheap labor and returns on stock options?

[NohopeSeriously]

This whole doomy perspective among Korean seniors is all because of the backward neo-Confucianism that plagued Korea for centuries. 성리학은 나라를 말아먹는 가장 쉬운 길이라는 걸 잊지말아라.

[ursus_rex]

I actually think the future won't be so bad. No one seems to be thinking about the massive wealth transfer that is going to occur in the future as a result of all these single child households.

In the past, when parents passed on, the wealth was divided amongst much larger families... now, not so much. So while the tax burden may be shifting to fewer people, so will the wealth as the older generation passes on.

In my situation, for instance, my son is the only grandchild of the Korean side of the family. He stands to inherit everything (house, assets, etc.). In the end, a bit of extra taxes will be more than made up by this legacy.

[Titus]

[jvalmer]

Who says there won't be some shift in thinking and maybe the world will experience yet another baby boom. 50 years is along time.

40 years ago Park Jung-Hee was actually encouraging some Koreans to emigrate because he thought Korea's birthrate would not go down fast enough.

[Neil]

Kind of ironic that while most South Koreans fear that reunification would destroy their economy if and when it happens it could save it.

20 million young bodies over the line (with their diet I would doubt many average North Koreans ever see north of 65) to support the graying population and provide the manufacturing services that educated South Koreans are shunning.

[Titus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82w_r2D1Ooo

Yes. More labor is needed. Yes Yes.

[goreality]

Minimum wage and production costs in South Korea are too high for 20 million uneducated people to do much help for the economy.
It will also increase youth unemployment here. Only the exceedingly ignorant, or those with an alternate agenda who are outright lying believe that re-unification will be an economic boom.
Unless they decide to come up with some kind of two tiered society, it will be a massive liability on the economy. This place doesn't have a late 1800s economy (or communism system) where more people = more workers = more money.