Middle-aged individuals in their 50s in South Korea are being marginalized in the labor market and discriminated against in terms of government employment support, a new study found.

Despite the fact that the jobs they are being pushed out of offer lower wages and poorer working conditions, they are being forced out of the workplace as early as age 55 – before the legal retirement age.

According to a report published by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, workers in their 50s employed under relatively poor conditions tend to leave the labor market as early as 55.

The research showed that regardless of job quality, middle-aged workers are being pushed out of the labor market long before reaching retirement age.

The research team analyzed employment data for people aged 50-59 from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study between 2009 and 2023.

Workers were classified into five categories based on job quality – high stability, medium stability, radical fluctuation, radical exit, and gradual exit.

The study found that about 13 percent of workers in the radical and gradual exit groups – those with relatively low job quality – were leaving the labor market at about age 55.

The findings challenge assumptions that older workers can remain employed in less-preferred sectors due to labor shortages.

Instead, the study suggested that middle-aged workers are being systematically excluded from the job market, regardless of job quality.

According to the Korea Employment Information Service, only 6.9 percent of participants in the National Employment Support Program between last year and February 2025 were in their 50s, far below the 62.5 percent participation rate among young people aged 15-29.

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