Taiwan and Korea face some of the world’s worst demographic headwinds with working-age populations set to shrink by 1% a year over the next decade. Efforts to boost fertility have largely failed, and immigration on the scale needed to stabilise the size of the workforce looks politically unrealistic. That leaves boosting labour force participation as the most promising lever. Both countries have made progress getting more women into work, and Korea has also had considerable success in retaining older workers. This is one area where Taiwan lags behind. But if it can encourage more over 65s to remain in employment, it would help to significantly offset the drag from a shrinking working-age population.
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