SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's economically active seniors hit a record high in May amid growing desire of the senior population to engage in economic activities, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of the economically active senior population aged 55-79, including those employed and unemployed, increased 328,000 over the year to 10.01 million in May, topping 10 million for the first time since relevant data began to be compiled in 2005, according to Statistics Korea.
Among the combined 16.447 million people in the age group, 60.9 percent was economically active in May, up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
The age group's employment rate advanced 0.5 percentage points to 59.5 percent, while its jobless rate dipped 0.2 percentage points to 2.3 percent in the cited period.
Of the employed seniors, the highest ratio of 13.7 precent landed jobs in the healthcare and social welfare service sector, followed by the manufacturing industry with 12.5 percent and the agricultural, livestock and fishery segment with 11.0 percent.
The number of seniors who wished to continue or begin work in the future stood at 11,421,000 in May, accounting for 69.4 percent of the total senior population. It was up 328,000 from a year earlier.
Of the total, 51.7 percent received a pension for the past year in May, up 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier.
The monthly average pension rose 5.0 percent to 860,000 won (619 U.S. dollars) in the cited period. ■