Employees in South Korea work long hours: 2,069 hours per worker annually – the second-highest among the Economic Cooperation and Development states, after
Employees in South Korea work long hours: 2,069 hours per worker annually – the second-highest among the Economic Cooperation and Development states, after Mexico. In the United States, that figure is 1,783.
Those long hours went hand-in-hand with the country’s booming economy in the 1980s and ’90s. But for all those hours worked, South Korea’s labor productivity is low, and so is population growth — the country has one of the world’s lowest birth rates.
So this week its parliament passed a bill that aims to restore some quality of life, by cutting the maximum workweek to 52 hours — down from 68.
« Under the current law, the maximum working hours in Korea were 68 hours per week, as the law excluded Saturdays and Sundays as part of the 40 hour ‘working days,’ making it possible to work an additional 16 hours during the weekend on top of any extended working hours, » as Korean broadcaster Arirang explains. « The revised working hours will now include the weekends in the weekly 40 hour working day period, reducing the maximum hours to 52. »
Employees under 18 will be limited to 35 hours in a regular workweek, and only five industries, including transport and health care, will be exempt from the new limits.
