60세 이상 정년 의무화제도의 시행이 고용에 미치는 효과: 사업체 수준의 분석

This study, using the 2015 and 2017 data from the Korea Labor Institute's Workplace Survey, analyzed the employment effect of the actual legal execution of the retirement age system act which requires firms to set retirement age over 60 years. The empirical results of this study show that the number of workers aged 55 or older decreased due to the implementation of the mandatory retirement age system, contrary to policy expectations. The negative employment effect of the policy was particularly significant when establishments that did not operate a retirement age system before the implementation of the mandatory retirement age system were used as the treatment group. The negative employment effect was found significant in small and medium-sized establishments and female worker groups, and firms with higher labor costs. The negative employment effect found for older workers, which is contrary to expectations of the act, implies that firms responded to the increased employment costs of the elderly by using measures such as recommended resignation, honorable retirement, and dismissal. In addition, the result indicates that some firms that had not operate a retirement age system hiring workers regardless of age, introduced a new retirement age system upon the implementation of the mandatory retirement age system as a means of ‘legally’ laying off workers older than the set retirement age.