Employment of the Baby Boom Generation over the Life Cycle

Abstract

Based on the work history data received from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), this study finds that, despite the potentially negative effects on employment associated the large influx of baby boomers in the labor market, the baby boomers experienced a shorter waiting time for the life-long career, compared to older generations. This is mainly attributed to the high economic growth rates during the 1980s. Due to the 1997 exchange rate crisis, however, the survival rate of the life-long career, evaluated in the late 40s of the life-cycle, was significantly reduced for the baby boomers. Data shows that the population proportion of those who never experienced a stable life-long career is higher for the baby boomers than earlier generations. The relatively poor labor market performance of the baby boom generation is counter balanced by their relatively high economic status in the asset market. Evaluating the consumption level and the consumption risk of each generation shows that there is little evidence to say the baby boomers were ‘unlucky’ compared to earlier generations.