Young South Koreans support more overtime and labour flexibility
The South Korean government plans to revise labour legislation that reduced maximum weekly working hours from 68 to 52. Employees will now also be able to turn overtime into more vacation time. Opposition parties and the country’s main trade unions are against the proposed reform.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – Young workers in South Korea are in favour of the government’s labour reform aimed at giving companies and employees greater flexibility in managing working hours and overtime.
According to the Organisation for Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea is the member country with the highest number of hours worked per person per year.
For this reason, when maximum weekly hours were lowered from 68 to 52 in 2018, this was a small revolution for South Korea.
The measure proved to be a contentious point, but at the time, the government was left-leaning, while now it is in conservative’s hands.
For recently elected President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration, labour market reform is a top priority. On Monday, his government unveiled its plan to revise working week legislation.
Under current rules, workers can do a maximum of 12 hours of overtime per week. Under proposed changes, these would be increased and be counted more flexibly.
Conservatives want more weekly hours and better management of extra hours depending on workloads.
The government proposal raises the amount of overtime hours but spreads over longer periods: 52 hours every month, 140 every quarter, 250 every six months, and 440 hours yearly.
Employers will be obliged to guarantee a rest period of at least 11 hours between shifts, while workers will also be able to turn overtime into extra vacation time to be added to their annual holidays guaranteed by law.
According to the Yonhap news agency, under the new regulations, companies can require each employee to work up to a maximum of 69 hours per week as long as the 52-hour overtime limit per month is respected.
“We will focus on giving more flexibility and choices in work hours, so employees can work and take a rest when they want to," said Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho when he presented the proposal.
The country’s business associations were among the first to welcome the reform. For the Korea Enterprises Federation, the reform “will be the starting point of overhauling old laws and systems for labour reforms."
Business groups, especially small and medium-sized companies, have always been critical of existing legislation, seeing it as too rigid, demanding the government take even bolder measures in terms of labour market reform.
The country's two main unions are against it, describing the measure as favourable only to business – they argue that employees will be forced to work longer hours. Opposition parties have also come out against the reform.
The proposal, however, seems to find support among young workers aged 20 to 30. A survey cited by the Korea JoongAng Daily indicates that 57 per cent of young people believe that the 52-hour weekly limit is inappropriate for a modern society where working hours should be more flexible.
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