(The Illusion of the 2015 Government Employees Pension Reform) A Backdoor Maneuver in the Government Employees Pension … Selecting the General-Population Life Table Rather Than the Civil-Servant Table

(2015) It was revealed on the 30th that the National Grand Compromise Council for Government Employees Pension Reform, in conducting its financial projection for the Government Employees Pension, agreed to base the projection on the general-population life table rather than the civil-servant life table. A financial projection refers to the estimation of how much in taxes will be required to fund future pension payments. Given that the life expectancy of civil servants (the number of additional years they are expected to live) is longer than that of the general population, using the general-population life table as the basis for the financial projection yields a smaller projected fiscal deficit. 

The two life tables differ. For a male aged 60 this year, the remaining life expectancy is 24.99 years for civil servants and 21.56 years for the general population—a difference of 3.43 years in favor of civil servants. For women, civil servants have a remaining life expectancy of 31.05 years compared with 26.66 years for the general population, a gap of 4.39 years. This means that civil servants live roughly 3 to 4 years longer.

Yoon Seok-myung, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), stated: "Civil servants have higher educational attainment and manage their health better than the general population, which accounts for their longer average life expectancy. The same holds true in other countries." He added, "Ignoring this and using the general-population life table would fail to reflect reality and would adversely affect financial projections."

https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/17475171