A recent study has indicated that South Korea could suffer a labor shortage of nine million by 2060.

The study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs’s Lee Sang-lim, unveiled Monday, showed that South Korea would suffer labor deficits from 2024.

His calculations showed that South Korea will suffer a deficit in the labor needed to maintain its production levels from 2024, while from the second half of 2020 the country will be hit by severe supply shortages.

Lee’s study shows that from 2030, South Korea’s labor supply will drop linearly, leading to a supply deficit in 2060 of nine million, a figure slightly over one fifth of South Korea’s expected population then.

He asserted that the study showed South Korea’s economy faces a higher risk of shrinking than suffering from labor shortages.

Lee calculated the labor shortage by using expectations on the labor supply based on government population tallies. He computed labor demand when South Korea's labor market is expected to peak. He also assumed employment rates for each age bracket would persist.