Key Points
- The government will review its proposed plan under a presidential order.
- Young people are concerned a 69-hour work week would put their health at risk.
- Politicians are concerned long work hours will worsen South Korea's record low birthrate.
South Korea’s government has been forced to reconsider its plan to increase working hours after facing heavy criticism from young people about health concerns related to overworking.
The proposed law would have extended the legal cap on working hours from 52 to 69 after multiple business groups complained that the current cap made it difficult to meet deadlines.
Millennials and Generation Z called the plan “unrealistic” and worried that the lack of work-life balance would put their health at risk.
The backlash prompted the presidential office to order the government to re-examine the proposed bill and better “its communication with the public to seek improvements”.
"Yoon ordered (the government) to reexamine the proposal itself and its communication with the public to seek improvements," Mr Yoon's office said in a statement according to the Korea Herald.
South Korean workers had the fourth-longest working hours at 1,915 hours per year on average as of 2021 according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
As Korea weighs up longer working hours, many nations including Australia are looking at the benefits of a four-day working week.
Over 60 firms in Britain took part in the six-month experiment allowing almost 3,000 employees to work one day less per week while retaining the same salary.
Union leaders agreed with Mr Han and said the plan left room for exploitation.
“It will make it legal to work from 9am to midnight for five days in a row. There is no regard for workers’ health or rest,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement.
Record low birthrates
Union leaders and opposing politicians expressed concern that increased work hours would worsen Korea’s quickly declining birth rate.
Long working hours have been cited as a major reason that South Korea’s fertility rate is the world’s lowest at 0.78, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The labour minister, Lee Jung-Sik, argued the increase in work hours would allow women to use their overtime hours for time off later, which could be used for family and caregiving commitments.
Women’s groups disagreed and said it would hurt working mothers and other women.
“While men will work long hours and be exempt from care responsibilities and rights, women will have to do all the care work,” the Korean Women’s Associations United said in a statement.
What are other countries trialling?
at companies in Australia with participants reporting improved productivity, work-life balance, health and wellbeing, and the normalisation of care as part of work.
Over 60 firms in Britain took part in a six-month experiment allowing almost 3,000 employees to work one day less per week while retaining the same salary.
More than nine out of ten firms said they would continue with the shortened working week or plan to do so, and just four per cent will not extend it.
Earlier this year, Belgium introduced new laws which enable full-time employees to request working 10-hour days across four days in order to have an additional day off in the week.
Businesses in countries around the world including Iceland, the United States, Canada and Japan have also conducted trials.
