What is the status quo of the elderly care of Korean people? When it comes to retired life in South Korea, people will think of the role of grandma in Korean dramas. They live in their son's house and have the authority of the head of the family. They call on their daughter-in-law and listen to their grandson's gossip from time to time, which once became the envy of Chinese mothers. According to the latest development trend, South Korea's middle class, which has no pension in the future, has a look.
It wasn't until they saw that the big cities of South Korea were full of old people engaged in manual labor that they found that the real world was not so beautiful.
In South Korea, 4.2 million old people are either working or on the way to find a job, even more than the young workers in their 20s.
Comparing the retirement life of Korean old people and Chinese old people, we can find that when Chinese old people retire, Korean old people are working, when Chinese old people dance in the square, Korean old people are working, when Chinese old people bring their grandchildren, Korean old people are still working.
This is not the life of workaholics after they get old, but the late scene of a generation being sacrificed in an aging country.
Old scavengers on the streets of Seoul:
Retirement is impossible
The legal retirement age in South Korea is 60. In fact, people don't really rest until they're 71. The retirement age is just the beginning of a job search.
In Seoul's "silver hair job fair", the scene is even more lively than Shanghai parents' blind date corner, more than 30000 white haired old people are looking for the second spring of the workplace. Most of the 6000 positions they competed for belonged to "low-end industries" that they had never thought they would be engaged in before they retired, including courier, security, cleaner, gas man & hellip; & hellip;
The South Korean government held a "silver hair recruitment fair" for the elderly over 60 years old: the elderly wore presbyopic glasses to fill in the application form.
Mr. Kang, 76, interviewed the most popular Courier Post and found that he needed to learn to send messages to deliver goods. He was worried about whether he could be selected.
Mr. Li, 77, applied to be a garbage collector. He thought he could move to his four sons' home after retirement, but he didn't wait for the invitation. But can only put down the body, put out the first resume.
It's not easy to find a black haired job seeker. As a result, he came to find a job for his 63 year old father. The son thinks it's better for his father to go out to work than to stay at home, while the old man refuses to show his face at the job fair because he thinks it's too shameful to find a job.
The old man checks the job information on the wall at the job fair:
In today's South Korea, the retired elderly have become a new force in the labor market. One out of every five taxi drivers is an old man over the age of 65, and almost all the residential security guards are old men over the age of 60.
In the garbage sorting and recycling plant, due to the poor working conditions, the boss is most worried about the lack of workers. When young people retreated, 60 year old people, fearing the bad smell and the danger of being tied by glass, resolutely stepped onto the assembly line.
The working environment of the sorting line in the waste recycling plant is poor, and most of the elderly workers do not wear masks, earplugs and other protective equipment.
Since people over 65 can take the subway for free, express delivery by subway has become a choice for many people. In China, it's the young and strong express brother who runs on the street, while in South Korea, it's the white haired express man who shuttles through the subway.
There is a special silver express company in South Korea, which recruits old people to deliver lighter goods.
Park, 71, has been a courier boss for four years.
It's not that he wants to give full play to his country, but that his pension can't survive after the bankruptcy of his own small company, let alone achieve the goal of buying a suite for his children in Seoul.
So Mr. Park lived a regular working life, handling 100 parcels a day, working three days a week, and earning 3000 yuan a month.
His goal is to work until the body can't bear it. 'our generation is too busy to live and raise children in this crazy era, and they don't want to retire at all. '
Only in the annual leave of 7 days every year, Mr. park will experience a real retirement life and travel to Jeju Island with his wife.
Mr. park is a normal age in the company. His oldest colleague is 78 years old.
As the life expectancy of Korean people has reached 81 years, 10 years more than the actual retirement age, there are optimistic jokers: Fortunately, Korean people live long, and there are 10 years left for us to control freely.
Retirement equals bankruptcy
Speaking of this generation of Korean elderly, in fact, is the most qualified generation to rest. Because the miracle of South Korea's economic take-off is the result of their efforts.
But whether you can rest or not depends not on your contribution, but on whether you have money. Poverty became the biggest reason to continue working. According to statistics, the poverty rate of the elderly over 65 years old in South Korea is as high as 49.6%, which is the highest among the developed countries.
Although the government began to implement the pension system in 1988, the pension is not available if you want it. Not only does it need to be paid continuously for more than 10 years, but it also needs to prove that there is no child care. According to the government, the elderly with children have been taken care of by their families since ancient times. As a result, only one-third of the elderly get a pension.
Even if you are entitled to a pension, it doesn't mean you can enjoy happiness, because the pension is really insignificant in the face of soaring prices. According to statistics, the average monthly pension received by the elderly over 60 years old in South Korea is about 2000 yuan, less than one third of the minimum living standard.
Due to the fact that many elderly people are facing starvation, the government and NGOs have opened a canteen for the elderly to provide free food.
The old people with children think that the country can't count on them, and they can count on them. After all, according to the Confucian tradition, it is the right way to raise children and prevent the aged. Even if you don't have the authority of the head of the family as you do in Korean dramas, you can also be a lovely grandparents in your children's home.
Who knows the world is changing fast. South Korea has become rich, but its economic growth rate is much slower than before. This means higher prices and fewer jobs. It is not easy for young people to take good care of themselves under the crazy competition.
So 'raising children and protecting the aged' became the first tradition to be sacrificed. In the past 15 years, the proportion of children who think they should support their parents has plummeted from 90% to 37%. The old people are helpless to find that although their life savings have been invested in their children's education, the children have been hollowed out by the education of houses, cars and grandchildren, and have no time to care for themselves. Seoul retirees lament, 'the family is broken up, so we will die alone. '
It's like the game of life trying to reach the last level, just preparing to enjoy old age, but suddenly fell into the hidden level of hard mode. The level is getting more and more difficult, but the body and energy are not as good as before.
People finally realize that where they are waiting for retirement is clearly laid-off.
A large number of elderly people who have retired from enterprises find that middle-class retirement may be worse than interns. A man who used to work in a well-known financial group said that he found an intern job after retirement, but his salary was a quarter lower than that of others.
Jin MINXIU, 69, feels the same. Before his retirement, he worked as an engineer in the factory. His monthly salary was 24000 yuan. His pensionable pension and his wife added up to less than 4000 yuan, which was not enough for the previous change. What's more desperate is that in Seoul, where prices are high, the lowest monthly cost of living is about 12000 yuan.
Because the previous wages were spent on the education of four children, and there was no savings in his pocket, Mr. Jin's life went back to before liberation overnight.
In order to improve the status quo of "eating soil", Mr. Jin asked for a new job in a small company. When it comes to wages, it's only 7000. HR is very direct: 'you are so old, either accept it or don't do it. 'a word made my last stubbornness drift away.
The situation of the middle-class elderly will only be worse. In one extreme case, there are about 200 old grannies living in prostitution on the streets of South Korea. Most of them have grandchildren. The oldest is over 80 years old.
'do you want to go to bed? '
'how much is it? '
'room $10, woman $30. '
This is the daily routine of Ms. Parker, who is in her 70s.
Facing the old lady standing in the street, most people turn around and walk away. Occasionally, those who ask about the price are all over half a hundred old men.
On the way to the hotel, the guests will be curious about how an old woman who has difficulty walking can do this kind of work. And the secret of Ms. Parker's is patience, 'to survive, I just close my eyes. '
Old people standing on the streets of Seoul:
Ms. Parker worked in a restaurant when she was young, and her four children left school early to enter the society. Now the children can't support her. She can only live on the government food subsidy. 'work' is to earn $250 a month, go to the hospital for arthritis treatment, equivalent to receiving at least eight guests. Due to the deterioration of arthritis, she can't do any other physical work.
What worries her more than being caught by the police is the disdainful look of passers-by. Because in the traditional education since childhood, honor and dignity are the most precious things.
Work is the last resort. Relying on the government and children has become foolishness. In the end, many people choose to rely on work to survive.
Every day, Ms. Yin pushes a rusty cart to pick up waste products in the streets of Seoul. Because there are five children, there is no government pension. But she would rather work alone than burden her children.
Every day when she came back home, Ms. Yin felt her back was hurting. She felt comfortable in no place. She never mentioned it to her children.
'it hurts all over when I get home! '
But no matter how considerate you are, you can't change the loneliness of life.
After the five children got married, they moved to other cities and occasionally came to see her together, but they would leave after a short time.
Grandchildren don't like to go to her house, complaining about cockroaches. In order to please her grandchildren, Ms. Yin will give them some pocket money. This even aggravates grandson's unhappiness, because grandma only gave 1000 won (6 yuan), while they expected 10000 won (60 yuan).
In the face of unpopular family life, Ms. Yin increasingly regards garbage collection as a kind of fun. Because at least, I can talk about the weather with my colleagues in the garbage station every day.
The same is true of Mrs. king, who lives alone in order not to trouble her children.
She had planned to work until she couldn't do it, and then she took all her savings to the hospital to spend the rest of her life quietly. Of course, it's not going to tell the kids.
When Mrs. king was really hungry, she was willing to spend about 12 yuan to drink a bowl of soup.
If someone wants to say that these bleak late scenes are the result of aging, it's a pity that this is just the beginning of aging in South Korea. At present, the elderly aged over 65 account for 13% of the total population of South Korea. By 2060, the proportion will be 40%.
In a wave of aging with white hair, no one can survive. For the next generation immersed in the anxiety of the middle class, the gray haired manual workers in the city are like a prophecy.
As a middle-aged cleaner said:
'look at these old people who can't retire and know how our generation will grow old. '