• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2000

The Korean version of the morningness-eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) and sleep habits inventory were administered to 1,038 Korean male daytime workers and were analyzed according to age and chronotype to determine what these factors reveal about sleep habits in view of phase difference of circadian rhythm. The mean and distribution of scores on the MEQ moved significantly toward the morning type with aging. Bedtimes and waking times were progressively later from the morning, intermediate, to evening types, and were also earlier with aging. Preferred bedtimes and waking times showed more distinct differences than did the habitual times in each chronotype. The percentage of subjects who answered that sleep length was 'short', mood upon waking was 'bad', and variabilities of bedtime and sleep length were 'large' were greater in the young and evening types than in the elder and morning types, respectively. These findings suggested that subjects were shifted toward the morning type and the phase of circadian rhythm had moved forward with aging. Preferred bedtime and waking time were a better reflection of individual circadian rhythms than habitual bedtime and waking time.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.247-260
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the individual and working environment-related factors affecting hypertension among middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers in South Korea. Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). The study sample included 1,319 middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers who were diagnosed without hypertension and older than 45 years at Wave 1 of the KLoSA. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis using SPSS 20.0. Results: About 20% of the middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers were diagnosed with hypertension within about 8 years from the baseline. the significant predictors of hypertension among the participants were age, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, frequency of health examinations, working hours per week, the presence of regular day off, and the type of job. Conclusion: Middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers are vulnerable to work-related health problems. In order to prevent hypertension among self-employed workers, it is necessary to improve the work environment-related factors as well as individual life styles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.58-62
• /
• 2022

Metro subway construction is a field that requires a great deal of professional manpower. The aging of professionals has a negative impact on both productivity and health, owing to poor working environments, heavy lifting, underground work, and other factors. To address this issue, the government is progressively revising and enforcing health management law and regulation in the construction industry. Thus, the job stress and work ability of many professional subway construction workers, who are rapidly aging, are being analyzed to ensure their safety and improve their health. In this study, the Macpa stress index of Busan Metro Subway construction workers from Sasang to Hadan line was measured by using a Macpa measurement machine, and a work ability survey was conducted by using the questionnaire that was developed by the FIOH. The independent variables were age, years of service, job position, employment type, and occupation. While, the dependent variables were the Macpa stress index and work ability. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used because it was difficult to assume that the statistics of this study represented a normal distribution. The results showed that age, job position, and employment type affected Macpa stress index and revealed that as the age of the workers increased, their stress levels increased as well. Additionally, job position and employment type affected the work ability of the metro subway construction workers. In terms of job position, the technical engineers were under a lot of stress, and whereas the managers had the best work ability. The technical engineers were more stressed than the other workers because of a poor working environment. In terms of employment type, daily workers were under more stress and lower work ability than others.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.81-90
• /
• 2006

As aging society makes rapid progress, various social problems arise. The drop of productive labor and the increase of welfare cost can be taken as examples. From this point of view, a use of aged labor is a matter of great Important to national productivity improvement. But, the participation rate of the aged in economical activity amounts to 49.8 percent and their unemployment rate does 2.1 percent. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the deterioration of skill and the lowering of adaption to new working environments due to aging. Since the aging effect is closely related to worker's productivity, it should be properly measured and analyzed. The coordination tester is used to find out activity limitations. Experimental results show that the expert skill of the workers can be improved through the effective of their experience. Therefore we can say that some operation is not influenced by aging.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.51-69
• /
• 2023

Korea's population is aging at a faster pace than any other major country, and the adverse impact of this trend on the economy is predicted to be significant. This paper focuses on the macroeconomic effects of population aging with particular attention paid to the pace of aging in Korea. According to our analysis, it is difficult to offset the decline in the labor supply driven by rapid population aging, even if the labor force participation rate of the working-age population rises to a significantly high level. We suggest a re-orientation of policy directions to correspond to the behavioral changes of economic agents. Policies must focus on promoting labor force participation among the elderly while pushing towards human capital advancement and higher productivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2019.11a
• /
• pp.46-47
• /
• 2019

The construction industry has a higher dependency on manpower than other industries, requiring a supply of high quality skilled workers. But negative perceptions regarding the construction industry have continued to reduce the inflow of young workers into the industry, and the existing skilled workforce is aging. In response, as a solution for training young construction skilled manpower, training programs for young construction skilled workers have been implemented by specialized high schools. But the current status of career paths chosen by the graduates of these specialized high schools did not show a substantial influx of workers into the construction industry. In this regard, with the purpose of promoting an influx of young construction skilled manpower into the industry, this study analyzed the goals and problems of construction education in specialized high schools in South Korea, and suggested a method for improvement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.64-69
• /
• 2022

The study measured a subway construction worker's Macpa stress by Heart Rate Variability measuring instrument and conducted a survey of Korean job stress from subway construction workers. Also, the study analyzed the relationship between Macpa stress index and Korean job stress result and suggested managing stress method for each item. According to National Statistical Office data, the first line subway in Seoul was started to open in 1974. The extended total length is 996 kilometers until 2019. Many aged workers are currently working at subway construction sites due to the avoidance of young workers since the past until now. It means that the elderly has a substantial portion among subway construction workers. The productivity has been adversely affected by health problems due to the aging of workers, job stress due to heavy work, and personal health problems. So, the regulation and policies on job stress health management are being strengthened. The data were measured Macpa stress by machine measuring heart rate variability and conducted Korean job stress survey(shortened) from Sa-sang to Ha-dan line Busan subway construction workers for analyzing the relationship. Independent variable were age, job duration, job position, employment type, working type in this study. Macpa's dependent variable was stress index and Korean job stress survey(shortened)'s dependent variables were job requirements, job autonomy, relationship conflict, job instability, organizational structure, inappropriate compensation, working place culture, and total score. SPSS 12.0 K Statistics Program was used for statistical analysis. Kruskal-wallis test, a nonparametric statistical analysis, was used because the data are difficult to be assumed as normal distribution. As a result, the paper indicated the significant correlation between Macpa stress index and Korean job stress(short version). The elderly workers presented higher Macpa index and higher job stress due to aging and heavy-duty work. The majority workers were daily workers who had unstable working condition and uncertainty about the future. The study suggested a manual that could reduce job stress for subway construction workers and future study deriving management tool through analyzing job stress factor is necessary.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.17-25
• /
• 1986

In recent years, the average life span of people in advanced countries has increased. Conwequently, the number of middle-aged and old workers who have the will to work has increased. On the other hand, the declining birth rate has decreased the number of young workers. However, because many enterprises in advanced countries have extended their mandatory retirement age from 55 to 60 years, labor accidents involving aged workers are on the increase. As a result, the need for a method to evaluate the work skills of middle-age and old workers has become urgent. To explore one such method, this study investigated the relationship between aging and manual dexterity. Dexterity was found to deteriorate with age, but with large variability from individual to individual. The parameters of dexterity used in this experiment were found to be reliable.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2017.11a
• /
• pp.58-59
• /
• 2017

As the construction industry has been increasingly complex, aging workers, hard-working avoiding young generation, foreign workers having language problem for the past decades, delivering of construction qualified workers has been a rising problem. This misalignment between the complex jobs and the number of skilled workers will continue to be in issue that the construction industry will face for following decades. Construction field workers who are working outside in uncontrollable condition unlike manufacturing industry are exposed to easily construction safety accident. There are so many efforts to prevent and control the construction accident. However, the relationships between the construction works and construction safety accident has not been well dealt and investigated based on objective accident data except for the qualitative study through interview, delphi and so on. Therefore this study analyzes job risk matrix exposed to safety accidents based on statistic data for 20 years from Korean Occupational Safety & Health Agency in order to prevent the construction field accidents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.132-135
• /
• 2009

The population over 65 years of age in Korea will be 10.3% of the entire population in 2008 indicating that Korea is already in an aging society. In addition, it is expected that Korea will be in an aged society in 2018 (population over 65 years of age : 14.3%) and that it will be in a post-aged society in 2026 (20.8%). Consequently, aged workers may also increase. It is well-known that the possibility to work longer and to live better is highly related to the work ability of individual. The objective of this study was to evaluate the work ability of each age group using the Work Ability Index(WAI) in the shipbuilding industry, and to assess the effects of social psychological stress, drinking characteristics, smoking characteristics, etc. on the WAI score. The results showed no significant difference on the effects of aging, drinking, and smoking characteristics. Interestingly, a statistical analysis on the effects of social psychological stress revealed a significant difference by stress levels. The difference of the average WAI score between the healthy group and the high risk group was about 10 points. Based on this result, it can be concluded that the stress level is an influential factor on WAI.