Retirement Age and Social Security

정년제도와 사회보장 : 1980년 이후 OECD 회원국들의 노후 소득보장 정책의 변화

This paper attempts to analyze the early retirement in the OECD countries and discuss implication of that in the old age policy in Korea. The increase of the early retirement in the almost all OECD countries is a common fact. Especially the rate of early retirement rapidly increased in the 1980s, mostly reflecting the high rate of unemployment and states' policies to reduce it. However, it varies across countries: the unemployment compensation pathway in France, the mixture of social assistance and private insurance in England, VUT in Netherland, the privatization of the early retirement in the U. S., and partial retirement and labor market policy in Sweden. The early retirement in the advanced countries contributes to de-institutionalization and de-standardization in life course model. It resulted in the erosion of the ordinary conception that the retirement was the beginning of the old age. And the last phase of life course became blurred. With respect to the problem of the early retirement, there is a big difference between Korea and the OECD countries. Above all, the retirement age is 55 years in many companies and the public pension is not universalized in Korea. Accordingly the policy for income security of the old age in Korea should be connected with social security policy such as the gradual extension of the retirement age and the expansion of the public pension and labor market policy such as job training for the old age, transformation of the seniority wage system etc.