Early retirement is becoming common among middle-aged and older adults in Korea, with those aged late 40s to early 50s primarily leaving their main jobs. This is due to involuntary factors such as restructuring, business closures, and layoffs, and there is a clear tendency for them to move down to temporary, daily, or simple manual labor jobs when they re-enter the workforce. As a result, this leads to employment instability and social isolation, increasing the risk of death from loneliness. In particular, the rate of lonely deaths among single-person households of men in their 50s and 60s is high. The research team proposed that indicators reflecting the risks of labor market transitions, rather than simple employment rates, and indicators capturing the structure and function of social networks should be used for policy performance evaluation.
