• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.18.1-18.7
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• 2023

South Korea has the highest policy priority for working hour regulations because it has longer annual working hours than other Organization for Economic Development Co-operation and Development countries and has fewer holidays. According to the results of the Working Conditions Surveys between 2006 and 2020, in 2020, 6% of wage earners worked for > 52 hours weekly. The percentage of workers exceeding 52 hours weekly has decreased over time; however, disparities exist based on age, industry, occupation, company type, and company size, particularly in service-, arts-, and culture-related occupations and workplaces with fewer than 5 employees. South Korea's working hours system is greatly influenced by the 52-hour weekly maximum; sometimes, a maximum of 64-69 hours, including overtime, is theoretically possible. To ensure healthy working hours, it is important to actively protect workers who fall through the cracks, such as those in businesses with fewer than 5 employees.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.143-178
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• 2004

For a thorough accounting for economic growth, it is desired to include the working hours and the efficiency of labor as production factors in addition to the number of workers and human and physical capital stocks. This paper estimates the distribution of weekly working hours of total workers as a continuous variable using the maximum likelihood method, estimates the efficiency of labor as a function of working hours using wage statistics, and by combining these results, estimates the labor efficiency index in Korea for the period 1963~2003. Estimation results show that the efficiency of labor was maximized when the weekly working hours was 40 hours, and the average annual growth rate of the labor efficiency for the period 1963~2003 was 0.14 percent.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the working hours of Korean workers in terms of occupation, employment contract period, employment type, final education level based on the first(2006), second(2010), third(2011), fourth(2014) Korean Working Conditions Survey(KWCS) results. Also KWCS was compared to European Working Conditions Survey(EWCS). It is found that weekly working hours were decreasing over the years since mid 2000 but weekly working hours of Korean were still longer than those of Europeans. It is also found that service workers and sales workers worked longer hours than specialists, that private sector worked longer hours than public and non-profit organization, and that the less educated worked longer hours than the more educated.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.343-346
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• 2017

Background: Long working hours adversely affect worker safety and health. In 2004, Korea passed legislation that limited the work week to 40 hours, in an effort to improve quality-of-life and increase business competitiveness. This regulation was implemented in stages, first for large businesses and then for small businesses, from 2004 to 2011. We previously reported that average weekly working hours decreased from 2006 to 2010, based on the Korean Working Conditions Survey. Methods: In the present study, we examine whether average weekly working hours continued to decrease in 2014 based on the 2014 Korean Working Conditions Survey. Results: The results show that average weekly working hours among all groups of workers decreased in 2014 relative to previous years; however, self-employed individuals and employers (who are not covered by the new legislation) in the specific service sectors worked > 60 h/wk in 2014. Conclusion: The Korean government should prohibit employees from working excessive hours and should also attempt to achieve social and public consensus regarding work time reduction to improve the safety, health, and quality-of-life of all citizens, including those who are employers and self-employed.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.143-156
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• 2000

The purpose of this study were to compare the job satisfaction of married salaried women with that of self-employed, and to identify the determinants of job satisfaction of both of them. The sample consisted of 176 salaried women and 123 self-employed from data of 1998 Korea Household Panel Study, and analyzed into Frequencies, Percentile, t-test, $\varkappa$$^2$-test, and Multiple Regression. The findings showed that self-employed had larger proportion of home-based worker, worked more hours, and had more earnings than the salaried, and that the job satisfaction of salaried worker were higher than that of self-employed. The determinants of job satisfaction of total working women were educational level, perception of present economic status, health status, number of eamers, weekly working hours, and their income. In case of salaried worker, educational level, health status, number of earners, weekly working hours, and their income had effect on their job satisfaction, while the factors contributing job satisfaction of self-employed were health status, region, weekly working hours, and income.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.21.1-21.11
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• 2023

Background: Recently, irregular working hours have become controversial issues in Korea. The health impact of irregular working hours on the work-related musculoskeletal pain (MSP) is scarcely researched before. We sought to investigate the association between irregular working hours and work-related MSP among South Korean workers. Methods: This study used data from the sixth Korean Working Conditions Survey in 2020. The prevalence of work-related MSP was analyzed using the χ² test. A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between irregular working hours and work-related MSP. We conducted stratified analysis by gender, weekly working hours, and workers' control over their working hours. We calculated the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of work-related MSP for irregular working hours combined with weekly working hours. Results: The OR for work-related MSP was significantly higher in the population with irregular working hours than in the population with regular working hours (OR: 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29-1.58). Irregular and long (> 52 hours/week) working hours have the highest risk of work-related MSP in both genders (in men, OR: 3.48 [95% CI: 2.53-4.78]; in women, OR: 2.41 [95% CI: 1.46-4.00]). Conclusions: Irregular working hours were associated with work-related MSP in Korea. The association was magnified with long working hours. Reform of the Korean Labor Standards Act leading to increase irregular working hours may induce adverse health outcome.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.4.1-4.11
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• 2022

Background: Long working hours are known to account for approximately one-third of the total expected work-related diseases, and much interest and research on long working hours have recently been conducted. Additionally, as the prevalence of prediabetes and the high-risk group for diabetes are increasing worldwide, interest in prediabetes is also rising. However, few studies have addressed the development of type 2 diabetes and long working hours in prediabetes. Therefore, the aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the relationship between long working hours and the development of diabetes in prediabetes. Methods: We included 14,258 prediabetes participants with hemoglobinA1c (HbA1c) level of 5.7 to 6.4 in the Kangbuk Samsung Cohort Study. According to a self-reported questionnaire, we evaluated weekly working hours, which were categorized into 35-40, 41-52, and > 52 hours. Development of diabetes was defined as an HbA1c level ≥ 6.5%. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the development of diabetes were estimated using Cox proportional hazards analyses with weekly working 35-40 hours as the reference. Results: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, 776 participants developed diabetes (incidence density, 1.66 per 100 person-years). Multivariable-adjusted HRs of development of diabetes for weekly working > 52 hours compared with working 35-40 hours were 2.00 (95% CI: 1.50-2.67). In subgroup analyses by age (< 40 years old, ≥ 40 years old), sex (men, women), and household income (< 6 million KRW, ≥ 6 million KRW), consistent and significant positive associations were observed in all groups. Conclusions: In our large-scale longitudinal study, long working hours increases the risk of developing diabetes in prediabetes patients.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.19.1-19.5
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• 2023

There are several types of shift work in Korea: rotating shift, 24-hour shift, day-night shift, fixed night work, and.so on. As a result of analyzing the 8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 6th Korean Working Condition Survey, Korean shift workers accounted for 11.6%-13.9% of wage workers. Weekly working hours of shift workers were 57.69 ± 1.73 (24-hours shift) and 49.97 ± 0.67 (fixed night shift), which were significantly longer than day workers. To prevent health consequences of night work, many countries regulate the working hours of night work not to exceed 7-9 hours a day. However, Korea does not regulate working hours for night work, and some occupations may work more hours than the prescribed overtime hours. To prevent health consequences and reduce working hours for Korean night shift workers, it is necessary to regulate the working hours of night shift workers by law.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.79-87
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether employed mothers' extended working hours have effects on childcare style and work-family conflicts. The data came from the 2007 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Family(KLoWF) of the Korean Women's Development Institute. 475 females with preschoolers or elementary-school children were used in this study. The major findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Weekly average working hours varied by education, salary, and the presence of preschoolers. (2) The time of childcare was significantly shorter in mothers who work more than 50 hours/week (3) Mothers who worked more than 50 hours/week felt significantly high work-family conflict. These analyses pointed to the importance of obeying the law related to working hours as the most important thing to sustain work-family balance. Institutional foundations should be enabled to keep legal working hours.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.45-65
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• 2016

Global competition and unstable economic situation in recent years have brought in adverse working conditions such as proliferation of temporary or part-time workers and new shift system. In this study we use exploratory data analysis method to find the relationship between some of the important variables which are related to working hours in KWCS (Korean Working Conditions Survey) and EWCS (European Working Conditions Survey). Next, working hours are explored in terms of sex, employment type, occupation and industry using 2006, 2010, 2011, 2014 KWCS data as well as 2010 EWCS data. Lastly, respondents are divided into two groups of healthy and nonhealthy workers and their working hours are explored in terms of the same categories as above. Finally, simple regression analysis is used to find the effect of health on weekly working hours and adjustment of the effect of health on weekly working hours is made using multiple regression analysis with some other independent variable such as sex, age and employment type included in the model.