Earticle

This article is trying to find out the effective law and institutions of employment promotion for the elderly people, including the mandatory retirement. The aging in Korea is most rapidly on its way, in comparison with the other countries. In the mean while, the law and institutions to promote employment for the elderly people keep on staggering, yet. In this surrounding, the new act for mandatory retirement by the age of 60s has been recently passed in the parliament. The mandatory retirement will be introduced step by step from 2016 to 2017, starting from the public sphere and private firms with more than 300 employees. However, in fact the honorary retirement, recommendations of resignation, and redundancy layoffs etc. have been more universal in the workplace, than the mandatory retirement. In this background, the effectiveness of mandatory retirement to promote employment for the elderly people is hot issue. Furthermore, even though the reorganization of wage system such as introduction of wage peak system has been included in this new act, it remains controvertial issue on the prohibition of unfavorable change of working conditions. This article is dividing between the employment warranty and employment extention, and it emphasizes that the reorganization of wage system should be discussed in the context of the employment ‘extension’. In addition, this article is comparing the American liberal labour market system without mandatory retirement with the European corporative labour market system with the mandatory retirement as well as its advantage and disadvantage. Finally, this article is introducing the various ways of improvement of law and institutions to promote employment of the elderly people.

Background: The adequate provision of medical care relies on the availability of a suitable number of healthcare professionals. To ensure stability in healthcare delivery, it is crucial for a country to accurately estimate and address the supply of doctors. This study aims to contribute to the formulation of effective policies for securing and distributing doctor manpower, with a focus on medically underserved areas at both the national and local government levels. Methods: Employing the system dynamics methodology, this research utilizes stock and flow diagrams, including level and rate diagrams, to quantitatively analyze the cumulative structure of the doctor supply and demand system. Results: The analysis reveals a substantial shortage of clinical doctors in Gyeongsangnam-do, amounting to 15,477 as of 2021. Projections indicate a need for an additional 7,570 doctors by the year 2050 to maintain the current healthcare service level. Examination of medical treatment rights and distribution across cities and counties indicates an insufficiency in doctor supply relative to demand in the majority of regions. Alternative scenarios, such as increasing medical school enrollments and adjusting retirement ages, were explored, yet none provided a sufficient resolution to the shortage. Conclusion: The findings underscore an impending exacerbation of the doctor shortage in Gyeongsangnam-do if the existing system is perpetuated. Addressing this issue necessitates not only augmenting the number of medical school students and adapting retirement age policies but also implementing diverse strategies employed successfully in other countries. This study serves as a foundational step in informing evidence-based policies aimed at securing an ample and appropriately distributed doctor workforce for sustainable healthcare delivery.