By Lee Hyo-sik 

Employers in public and private sectors are obliged not to discriminate against older job seekers from younger ones. 

But still some businesses openly post job advertisements that specify an age limit for their prospective employees.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday that about 2.2 percent of 4,381 online employment openings posted on 677 job portals between March 23 and April 6, specified an age limit for job applicants. 

The majority of them were recruiting those under 30 or 40.

The ministry said it issued an administrative warning to 24 employers and ordered the remaining 74 to alter the posting in accordance with the laws banning discrimination based on age and promoting employment of the elderly. 

The figure, the ministry added, was down sharply from 218 during the same period last year.

“The number of job openings imposing an age limit for job seekers has decreased since March 2009 when the law banning age discrimination in hiring went into effect. 

But still, some businesses openly state they do not want to hire older workers,” a ministry official said.

The official said that the ministry will monitor online job postings at least once every quarter and apply other measures to abolish a decades-old hiring practice. 

The government will also continue to crack down on businesses that impose gender discrimination when hiring, he said.