Retirement pension for 600,000 social welfare workers gains cross-party support

A National Assembly forum on retirement pensions for social welfare workers drew cross-party consensus Friday, raising expectations that legislation to establish such a system could move forward quickly.

The Korea Social Welfare Mutual Aid Association held the policy forum, titled "Introducing a Retirement Pension for Social Welfare Workers — Voices from the Field," at a conference room in the National Assembly members' office building on Friday.

The forum was organized to build broader support for the swift passage of amendments to the Act on the Improvement of Treatment and Status of Social Workers — bills introduced in July and November 2025 — and to explore concrete ways to establish a dedicated retirement pension system for social welfare workers.

Former Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo chaired the discussion. Seo Jeong-su, president of the RNA Analytics Finance Academy, delivered the keynote presentation on completing the social welfare delivery system through income security for social welfare workers in retirement.

Seo said that while about 600,000 people work at social welfare facilities nationwide, the average length of service stands at just 3.7 years, and 83.5 percent of workers feel their retirement security is inadequate.

He also said the current retirement pension system — fragmented across individual facilities and financial institutions — makes it difficult for workers' retirement assets to translate into long-term income in old age. He noted that 76.7 percent of retirement benefits are cashed out mid-career when workers change jobs or leave a facility.

He proposed a sector-specific retirement pension model that would consolidate and professionally manage retirement benefits scattered across welfare facilities, allowing workers to continue accumulating savings within the same system even after changing jobs.

"A pension for social welfare workers is a system that can be a win-win for everyone by building a sustainable social welfare delivery system," Seo said. "If 2025 was the year we confirmed the need, 2026 must be the year we make it a reality."

The panel discussion brought together representatives from the pension and mutual aid sectors, the welfare field and government: Nam Jae-woo, chairman of the Korean Pension Association; Kim Hyeong-cheol, head of the member services division at the Korea Scientists and Engineers Mutual Aid Association; Song Geun-chang, secretary general of the Korea Association of Social Welfare Corporations; Gong Sang-gil, director of the Goyang Deogyang Senior Welfare Center; and Kim Yeon-suk, director of the welfare policy division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The panelists agreed that stable retirement security for social welfare workers is a cornerstone of improving the quality of welfare services for the public, and fully endorsed the need to introduce a dedicated retirement pension for the sector.

The Korea Social Welfare Mutual Aid Association said it plans to strengthen cooperation with the National Assembly, the government and the social welfare community based on the views presented at the forum, and to accelerate both the passage of related legislation and the detailed design of the system.

"True improvement in the treatment of social welfare workers is complete only when a stable life after retirement is guaranteed, beyond working conditions during employment," said Kim Yong-ha, chairman of the Korea Social Welfare Mutual Aid Association. "We will commit all of the association's resources to ensuring that the introduction of a retirement pension for social welfare workers leads to actual legislative revision and implementation."