About 3 out of 4 salaried employees welcome the wage peak system, which is actively pushed by the finance and labor ministries for overall economic expansion, a recent poll showed.

The wage peak system will extend the retirement age to 60 from the current ages ranging from 53 to 58. The paycheck for elderly workers will be slashed by about 10 percent over their last several years at work.

According to Saramin, an online recruitment portal, 72.3 percent of the surveyed 559 salaried workers said they supported the wage peak scheme.

In the plural response-based poll, around 65 percent of them picked stable preparation of post-retirement life for their consent to the state plan, followed by 45 percent who said that they preferred longer working years over higher annual payment.

Male respondents who welcomed the system outnumbered female workers 76.8 percent to 64.4 percent. In addition, senior workers were more favorable toward it than young respondents.

Economic policymakers have decided to increase funding to companies that introduce the wage peak system as part of detailed measures to promote employment for the elderly.

Currently, companies that adopt the system receive an annual 8.4 million won ($8,100) per worker over age 50 if the company employs the worker until age 60.

The annual state budget allotment will be expanded to 10.8 million won, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Employment and Labor said in a joint statement in September. Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan added that the support would be granted for two years.

The National Assembly passed a bill in April 2013 that would require the public sector and big businesses with 300 or more employees to extend the retirement age to 60 or older from 2016, and others, including small businesses, from 2017.

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