Exclusion from a ‘mandatory’ pension scheme: Late-stage dropouts from the National Pension System in South Korea

Jongseok Oh, Seho Son and Kun Lee

The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2025, vol. 31, issue C

Abstract: In this study, we investigate an underexplored mechanism through which a mandatory pension scheme effectively excludes low-status older adults. We examine the patterns of individuals dropping out from the National Pension System just before the eligibility age, the largest public pension scheme in South Korea. We analyze administrative pension insurance data on individuals eligible for a lump-sum refund of lifetime contributions at age 60 due to insufficient contribution records – a negatively selected subpopulation. We employ a set of linear probability models with several fixed-effect specifications to investigate individual- and regional-level determinants of late-stage dropout. Results reveal a unique U-shaped relationship between the size of accrued contributions and the probability of dropping out, suggesting that immediate budget constraints could be the primary reason for dropouts among low-status workers. We also find that individuals with unstable labor market histories are more inclined to choose the refund option, while a regional economic decline is associated with an increase in withdrawals. We call for alternative policy approaches to protect the financially vulnerable and provide implications for other pension latecomer countries.

Keywords: Public pensions; Social insurance; Retirement; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 J14 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X25000337

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joecag:v:31:y:2025:i:c:s2212828x25000337

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2025.100578

Access Statistics for this article

The Journal of the Economics of Ageing is currently edited by D.E. Bloom, A. Sousa-Poza and U. Sunde

More articles in The Journal of the Economics of Ageing from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().