A growing number of the baby boomer generation, which refers to people born between 1955 and 1963 in Korea, is suffering bankruptcy of their small businesses, a financial data provider showed.

According to the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute, the total number of micro-business owners with dishonored bills came to 237 for the first eight months of the year.

The data showed that 104 individuals, or 44 percent, were baby boomers.

This means the proportion of baby boomers out of all individuals with dishonored bills rose 3.5 percent from the 40.4 percent in the same period last year.

A growing number of Korean baby boomers who have retired from their lifetime career jobs are starting up microenterprises to earn a living. But they are exposing themselves to the risk of poverty as their chances of success are low due to their lack of experience and unfavorable economic conditions.

The number of baby boomers is estimated at 7.1 million, or 14.6 percent of the nation’s total population.

Economists and policymakers expect the baby boomer generation’s massive retirement in the coming years to sharply decrease domestic consumption, a critical blow to the nation’s economy.

The National Statistical Office said in a recent report that the baby boomers and the quickly aging Korean population are expected to weaken economic growth and widen the income gap.

A report by the Bank of Korea advised that to counter the problems stemming from the drastic demographic change, Korea needs a development strategy which would put more emphasis on enhancing productivity than simply increasing the workforce.

“Policy measures intended to encourage more workers to participate in the labor market including extending the retirement age would not be as effective as we had anticipated in lifting economic growth,” the report said.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)