Long working hours entail a heap of associated problems in Korea; OECD averaged 1,696 hours while Korea reached 2,092 hours a year

2013-10-08 17:17

Cutting working hours

Few will deny that South Koreans are the hardest-working people on the planet. While the yearly working hours among the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) averaged 1,696 in 2011, South Korea’s reached 2,092 hours last year. In fact, long working hours entail a heap of associated problems. First of all, employees are prone to depression and anxiety disorders. It’s also rare to find any improvements in productivity because employees work at a slower rate during business hours.    Given this, the ruling camp’s agreement on Monday to push for a bill that would cut the maximum working hours per week to 52 hours from the current 68 carries great significance. Under this agreement, the governing bloc will revise the Labor Standards Act to that effect during the current regular session of the National Assembly.
To cushion the shock caused by the abrupt revision of the law, the new rule will be gradually enforced from 2016, according to the size of each employer.  Specifically, companies with more than 1,000 employees should comply with the regulation from 2016, those with 100 to 1,000 from 2017, and firms with fewer than 100 workers from 2018.
This change is a belated but welcome move, given that the nation must rectify the notorious practice of working very long hours to improve the quality of life. More importantly, reducing the legally permissible working hours could help create more jobs, thereby enabling the incumbent administration to deliver on its promise of raising the employment rate to 70 percent.
But the revision could be disastrous to both management and labor unless the new system works properly. What’s most disturbing is that the nation must kill three birds with one stone ― expand job opportunities, enhance the quality of life and keep the corporate competitive edge intact.
Laborers could suffer wage cuts if working hours are shortened. During this process, only labor unions at large companies with great bargaining power will reap practical benefits.
Employers, for their part, will suffer from rising costs, which will in turn deal a fatal blow to their competitiveness. The impact, in particular, will be decisive for small and medium businesses, given possible disruptions in production and increased difficulties in hiring new workers.
It’s for this reason that the government should push for the revision after careful consideration. There are also prerequisites for businesses to fulfill before introducing the new system ― enhance labor flexibility and narrow labor-management discrepancies on wage cuts.
It will be more realistic if the tripartite committee of labor, management and government takes the lead to negotiate a fair solution, thereby emerging from its current lethargic state.