More than half of senior citizens aged over 65 want to have jobs, with about 20 per cent of them having the experience of looking for a place to work in the past year, government data showed on Sunday.

In a survey carried out by Statistics Korea in May, 55.7 percent of senior citizens aged between 65 and 79 said they want to “continue to work.”

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The ratio is up 0.9 percentage point from 54.8 percent in the same month of last year and up 12.1 percentage points from 43.6 percent in the same month of 2013, the Korea Employment Information Service (KEIS) said in an analysis report based on the survey results, reports Yonhap news agency.

By gender, 65 percent of male seniors in the age groups and 47 percent of female seniors wanted jobs due mainly to economic reasons, the KEIS report said.

Nearly 19 percent of male seniors and 18 percent of female seniors had the experience of seeking a job in the past 12 months.

In particular, the government needs to provide jobs for low-educated seniors in the age groups to help them make a living, the report said.