The employment rate among Korean women in their 50s hit the highest level in decades in the second quarter, as many females joined the workforce to meet growing education and living costs, data showed Tuesday.

According to the data by Statistics Korea, the employment rate among the cited age group stood at 59.3 percent in the April-June period, the highest level since the third quarter of 1992, when the rate peaked at 60.1 percent.

The employment rate exceeded the corresponding figure for those in their 20s, which stayed at 58.9 percent in the second quarter, the data showed.

The hike is attributed to growing demand among housewives for jobs to meet the rising expense of educating their children. Many also appeared to seek employment to prepare for their husbands’ retirement, experts said.

The data showed that female workers in their 50s totaled 2.09 million in the second quarter, up 72 percent from the same period a decade ago when it stood at 1.21 million.

They accounted for 20.29 percent of the nation’s total working females, up from 13.30 percent during the second quarter of 2001, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the employment rate for females in their 40s also hit the highest level in about three decades, indicating that a growing number of women have joined the workforce after getting married and having babies.

The rate for the cited age group stood at 65.9 percent during the second quarter of this year, according to the data, marking the highest figure since the third quarter of 1983 when it stayed at 66.4 percent. 

(Yonhap News)