93岁的本田玉子在熊本麦当劳的清洁岗位继续工作，她是日本约22万名麦当劳员工中年纪最大的，但并非孤例，而是东亚老龄化长期趋势的写照。随着寿命延长且健康年限延长，日本和韩国分别有近40%的65岁以上人群仍在就业和超过25%的日本65岁以上人口在职，均为经合组织(OECD)成员国中最高水平。

在日本，过半数老年员工表示继续工作是为了收入；在韩国，公共养老金平均仅覆盖离职前收入约三分之一，且近40%的65岁以上人群收入低于中位数一半以下。高龄就业并非只为钱，很多人也把持续工作视为延缓健康下降、缓解孤独的方式。

就业结构与制度并未同步调整，导致不少老年人被迫接受再就业歧视与“降薪降责”替代合同，出现大量文职人才与低技能岗位供需错配。韩国提供超过100万名老年人兼职岗位，日本则有1300多个银人力中心安置60岁以上就业，但要真正兼顾就业延长与脆弱群体支持，还需重新设计社保和雇佣体系；日本已将雇佣上限从65岁提高到70岁，韩国则把法定退休年龄由59岁提高到60岁。

Ms. Honda, 93, still works as a janitor at a McDonald’s in Kumamoto, and although she is the oldest among about 220,000 McDonald’s employees in Japan, she reflects a broader trend in East Asian aging. Nearly 40% of South Koreans and more than 25% of Japanese aged over 65 are still working, the highest rates in the OECD.

In Japan, more than half of elderly workers say they stay employed mainly for income; in Korea, the public pension replaces only about one-third of pre-retirement earnings, and nearly 40% of Koreans over 65 earn less than half the median income. Many older workers also cite non-monetary value in work, such as maintaining health and avoiding isolation.

Labor systems still have major frictions: many who want to continue face higher barriers, with age-based discrimination, rehire into temporary lower-pay roles, and a large mismatch between office-worker experience and available menial jobs. Korea funds over 1 million senior part-time jobs and Japan has more than 1,300 Silver Human Resource Centres, while policy has shifted retirement thresholds from 65 to 70 in Japan and from 59 to 60 in Korea, yet a deeper redesign of social protection and hiring practices remains necessary.

Source: Silver lining

Subtitle: SEOUL AND TOKYO Ageing workers in East Asia are increasingly essential but too little used

Dateline: The Economist May 2nd 2026