Older adults collecting used paper earn less than a dollar per hour, Health Ministry says

An old woman tows scraps of paper she picked up in the streets to a scrap shop in Jongno District, central Seoul, to sell them at some 70 won ($0.05) per kilogram on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Around 42,000 adults over age 65 are earning less than a dollar per hour by collecting used paper on the streets, the Health Ministry said Thursday.

"It is estimated that there are approximately 42,000 older adults collecting waste paper nationwide, whose average age is 76 years old," Lee Ki-il, vice health minister, told the press on Thursday.

The report was the first of its kind by the Korean government detailing the state of this older adult population, often seen collecting waste papers on the streets early in the mornings or late evenings.

Korea is one of the world's fastest-growing countries but has a high rate of poverty among older adults.

Koreans over 65 are expected to take up 20 percent of the country's population by 2025. They number around 9.5 million as of this year and account for 18.4 percent of the country's population, according to Statistics Korea data released in September.

On average, in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries, 14.1 percent of adults over 65 live in relative income poverty or have an income below half the national median equivalized household disposable income.

The rate in Korea was 37.6 percent in 2021.

The ministry said the 42,000 is an estimate it came up with after speaking with 105 of the country's 4,282 scrap shops.

At least 80 percent of these older adults were estimated to be collecting the waste papers and bringing them to scrap shops for economic reasons, ranging from main incomes to pocket money, the ministry said.

They were collecting scrap papers, including used boxes, for an average of 5.4 hours a day, six days a week, and earning an income of about 159,000 won per month — or 1,226 won ($0.95) hourly, only 12.7 percent of the minimum wage of 9,620 won.

Those surveyed by the ministry said that the biggest challenge about collecting waste papers was the drastic drop in the price of waste papers.

They used to earn 144 won per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of waste papers collected when they sold them to scrap shops in 2017. The prices dropped to 74 won this year, according to the ministry.

The ministry also found that a majority of these older adults collecting waste papers on the streets — 93.2 percent — were relying on government stipends for low-income families.

The government stipend covered up to 49.9 percent of their income and selling scraps of waste papers 16 percent, it said.

The ministry added it will be working with local district offices and scrap shops to find out how many older adults are engaged in this activity and whether they can be persuaded to take on other jobs for older adults.

"Around 30.4 percent of those collecting scrap papers in the streets are aged over 80," Lee said. "We want to offer jobs to them that may not be as rigorous."

Of those surveyed, as many as 7,000 voiced interest in continuing to collect waste papers.

"We will start to get in touch with them and offer them positions that would guarantee them an income of at least 380,000 won per month," Lee said, adding that these salaries should fall under the cap required by law for the recipients of low-income subsidy to continue receiving the subsidy while working.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]