Employment Status, Quality of Matching, and Retirement in Korea: Employment Status, Quality of Matching, and Retirement in Korea

This paper explores how and why the probability of retirement differs between selfemployed and wage-and-salary workers. It finds self-employed workers are less likely to retire than wage-and-salary ones, and that differences in retirement incomes, health, productivity, job characteristics, and compulsory retirement practices do not explain the disparity. This study suggests that the difference between self-employed and wage-andsalary workers in the quality of matching between the job and the worker (i.e., required and desired amount of work efforts) explains the later retirement of the self-employed. We note the implications of these findings for labor-force participation at older ages and how policies might boost employment of the elderly. JEL Classification: J1.