South Korea 69-hour workweek plan reversed after youth backlash

Im, who spoke on the situation that solely his final identify be used as a result of he was not licensed by his employer to talk publicly, is among the many tens of millions of South Koreans of their 20s or 30s who have been exasperated by final week’s proposal from President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration to lift the authorized cap on weekly work hours to 69.

In a uncommon coverage reversal, the federal government will rethink the plan after a vocal pushback from youthful adults. “The president views workweeks longer than 60 hours as unrealistic, even when including overtime,” Ahn Sang-hoon, a senior presidential adviser, instructed reporters Thursday. “The government will listen more carefully to opinions from MZ workers” amongst others, he added, utilizing the collective time period generally utilized in South Korea for millennials and people in Generation Z.

“I think it’s a positive sign that the president has taken a step back after listening to younger generations,” mentioned Kim Seol, the chief of Youth Community Union, a labor activist group that advocates higher working circumstances for youthful adults. “But it’s also proof that the president didn’t really think this through,” he mentioned.

Yoon’s disapproval ranking amongst South Koreans of their 20s and 30s jumped to 66 p.c and 79 p.c respectively on March 10, 4 days after the federal government formally introduced the 69-hour proposal, in accordance with Gallup Korea. (The rankings have been 57 p.c and 62 p.c respectively on March 3.) Disapproval rankings from different age teams throughout the identical interval both stayed related or decreased.

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By regulation, the South Korean workweek is 40 hours with as much as 12 hours of weekly extra time, so long as the employer compensates staff with additional trip or pay. In observe, extra time often goes unrewarded, in accordance with staff of their 20s and 30s who spoke to The Post. Employers nudge them to do leftover earn a living from home within the evenings, they are saying, and in some instances accuse them of being inefficient to keep away from authorized scrutiny for the prolonged hours.

Daniel Kim, a 35-year-old who works within the medical business as a researcher, mentioned he as soon as went via an eight-month interval when he couldn’t go residence earlier than 10 p.m. Eighty-hour workweeks weren’t remarkable at his firm, he mentioned. His spouse, who’s employed by a pharmaceutical agency and infrequently works into the evening, was wrapping up work from home as he was being interviewed for this story round 9 p.m. Wednesday.

South Koreans work a mean of 1,915 hours a yr, whereas Americans work 1,791 hours, in accordance with the most recent figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD common is 1,716 hours.

Neighboring Japan — which twenty years in the past had work hours above the OECD imply and continues to be taking steps to beat the issue of karoshi, or deaths from overworking — final yr averaged 1,607 hours. Today, “working excessively long hours is frowned upon” in Japan, mentioned Motohiro Morishima, a professor of human useful resource administration at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. South Korea ought to search to extend productiveness, not working hours, he mentioned.

“If there is more work, [South Korean] employers should hire more people,” mentioned Lee Jong-sun, a professor of labor relations at Korea University’s Graduate School of Labor Studies in Seoul. That means, extra jobs are created and overwork is lowered, he mentioned.

But firms hardly ever do, he mentioned, as a result of they both don’t have the monetary capability or as a result of it’s cheaper to ask present workers to choose up the slack. “Hiring new people means more benefits, insurance and more wages,” Lee mentioned. “It’s more expensive.”

As not too long ago as 20 years in the past, South Koreans have been anticipated to work 5½ days every week. On Saturday mornings, kids would go to highschool whereas dad and mom headed to the workplace for a half-day. It was solely in 2011 that the nation totally adopted the five-day workweek. Seven years later, the nation capped weekly working hours at 52.

“Nobody wants to go back to longer weeks,” mentioned Lee, 58, who remembers when he must sacrifice participation at household gatherings on Saturdays to go to work. Legalizing a workweek of 60-plus hours could be like sending the nation again in time, he mentioned. “We’ve already felt the benefits of shorter weeks. Why would anyone want to go back?”

Im, who works the company job, bought married this yr — and mentioned a 69-hour workweek would imply giving up his and his spouse’s hope of getting two children. “Who’s going to take care of the baby if mom and dad are at work all day?” he mentioned. “It’s frustrating, but there’s little I can do about it.” He expressed doubt that South Korea’s world-lowest birthrate of 0.78 would enhance below such a system.

Long hours are related to low birthrates as a result of they’re “antithetical to caring and they make the clash between work and care” tough, mentioned Rae Cooper, a professor of gender and employment relations on the University of Sydney. “South Korea sits near the top of the list” of nations with lengthy working hours, she mentioned, including: “This is not a prize to be celebrated.”