• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to compared the length of working hours and its effects on family life for Korean and Japanese full-time working couples. For this study, the survey used structured questionnaires and time diaries(one weekday and holiday), and the data were collected in the fall of 1995. A subsample of full-time working couples, 82 couples from Seoul and 79 couples from Tokyo, was used for the purpose of this study. The major findings are as follows; 1) On average, the weekday working hours of Korean husbands were longer than Japanese husbands(11 hours 31 minute, 10 hours 52 minutes a day, respectively). Wives in both countries worked almost identical lengths of time (9 hours 2 minutes in Korea and 8 hours 42 minutes in Japan). Working hours of husbands were longer than those of wives in both countries. Husbands' overtime. Almost (90%) of our Korea sample worked 6 days or 5 1/2 days per week, however the majority (69%) of our Japanese sample worked only 5 days per eek. 2) More Korean husbands and wives reported that their family life was constrained by wives working hours than their Japanese counterparts did. 3) All wives in both countries reported that the husbands long working hours has effects on quality family time. Korean wives perceived that their working hours had effects on time spent on child care, however Japanese wives perceived that their working hours affected their personal time and housework time. Korean husbands agreed with their wives working hours negatively affected their personal leisure time. Japanese husbands reported that their working hours negatively affected their sleeping time.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2006

Purpose: This study analyzed the amount of stress and the different effects according to the working times(hours) of a week in two groups: more than 40 hours a week and less than 40 hours a week. Method: The study was conducted from November 1st 2005 to December 15th 2005. The purpose of the study has already been explained in the experiment objectives. 20 copies of evaluation forms were sent by mail to 50 different health sections of participating work sites. A total of 1,000 copies were sent out and 870 were sent back. Within the forms, sent back 120 copies had insufficient data, so 750 copies of evaluation forms were analyzed. Result: Working stress for under 40 hours of working time showed a total of 46.10 points and 47.18 for over 40 hours of working time. For over 40 hours, job demand and occupational climate was high and under 40 hours showed a high rate of job control. For under 40 hours of working time, the factors that caused stress were female, irregular diet habit, age of 30's, nonmanufacturing, and single. For over 40 hours of working time, the factors that causes stress were age of over 40, when the number of employees is 500~999, high rate of fatigue, when the position of the employee is higher then section chief, and when the work amount is high. Conclusion: The stress rate showed significantly higher in over 40 hours of working time. Therefore, adequate working hour distribution and health promotion programs are needed. The factors that cause stress in both under and over 40 hours of working time differed. Therefore, a distinguished program to control work stress for additional working time is needed.

• 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.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between work-related communication devices use during work outside of regular working hours and depressive symptoms in wage workers. Methods: Data from 50,538 workers aged 15 years or older who had participated in the 6th Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) were used. The final sample was 32,994 wage workers. The questionnaire asked the respondents how often they used communication devices for work during work outside of regular working hours. Depressive symptoms were assessed using WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the association between work-related communication devices use during work outside of regular working hours and depressive symptoms. Results: The rate of depressive symptoms was highest among workers who did not use work-related communication devices during work outside of regular working hours. After adjusting for socio-demographic and work-related factors, the odds ratio of depressive symptoms among workers who used communication devices when working outside of regular working hours was 1.20 (95% CI: 1.09-1.32); the odds ratio of depressive symptoms in the group not using communication devices for free-time work was 1.66 (95% CI: 1.37-2.00), which was higher than that of the reference group, that is, workers who did not work outside of regular working hours, and was statistically significant. Conclusion: Regardless of whether work-related communication devices are used, working outside of regular working hours increases depressive symptoms. The use of work-related communication devices during work outside of regular working hours can reduce the rate of depressive symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2014

Purpose: This study analyzed the relationship between working hours and the occurrence of industrial disasters based on manufacturing businesses that are members of Federation of Korean Trade Unions.Methods: Repliers were managers of the safety & health department in the union, and 215 surveys out of 300 businesses that agreed to participate in the research were analyzed. Results: 94 out of 300 companies, which counted for 43.7%, replied to have experienced industrial disasters. 56 of those (59.6%) had less than 52 working hours per week, and 38 companies (40.4%) had more than 52 working hours per week. 109 companies, which counted for 50.7%, did not have an incident of industrial disaster. Companies with an average of more than 52 hours of working hours per week were shown to have a 2.29 times (95% CI 1.08~4.87) higher possibility of having industrial disasters than those with less than 52 hours of working hours. Conclusion: As the study showed that industrial disasters were more likely to occur in businesses with working hours longer than 52 hours, ways to reduce working hours need to be developed and various safety measures need to be taken to prevent industrial disasters in case workers are undergoing long working hours.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.236-243
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• 2015

Objectives: This study sought to examine the association between long working hours and depressive symptoms among interns and residents in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed a cross-sectional survey of 1,661 interns and residents from the 2014 Korean Interns & Residents Survey. Total working hours during the preceding week was assessed and classified into five categories(i.e. less than 60 hours, 60-79 hours, 80-99 hours, 100-119 hours, and 120-168 hours). Depressive symptoms during the previous week were measured by using ten items from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale questionnaire. Multivariate negative binomial regression was applied to examine the association between long working hours and depressive symptoms after adjusting for potential confounders, including medical specialty and training year. All analyses were performed using STATA/SE version 13.0. Results: 86%(N=1,429) of interns and residents worked 60 hours or more per week. Compared to the "less than 60 hours" group, long working hours for interns and residents were significantly associated with depressive symptoms: "60-79 hours"(PR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.32), "80-99 hours"(PR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.54, 3.33), "100-119 hours"(PR: 2.62, 95% CI: 1.76, 3.89), and "120-168 hours"(PR: 3.28, 95% CI: 2.21, 4.86). Conclusions: This study found that long working hours were prevalent among interns and residents in South Korea, and it was associated with depressive symptoms.

• 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.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.512-517
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• 2019

Background: Rest breaks at work are reported to reduce fatigue and job stress. Apartment janitors in Korea who perform night shift work and work long hours can be exposed to various health problems (HPs). However, few studies have evaluated relationships between their rest breaks and HPs. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between long working hours, shift work, and insufficient rest breaks and HPs among Korean apartment janitors. Methods: Data on 1,212 selected male apartment janitors were obtained from the 3rd and 4th Korean Working Conditions Surveys. Demographic and occupational characteristics were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Rest breaks at work were classified as "sufficient" or "insufficient." Long working hours were considered as working more than 60 hours per week. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression was performed to investigate the effects of shift work and long working hours on HPs and the effects of rest breaks on relationships between HPs and long working hours and shift work. Results: Among those with insufficient rest breaks at work, significant associations were found between long working hours and the risk of HPs [odds ratio (OR) = 1.489; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.038-2.136] and work-related HPs (WRHPs) [OR 1.621; 95% CI = 1.156-2.272], and between shift work and HPs [OR = 1.603; 95% CI = 1.084-2.372]. These relationships became nonsignificant when sufficient rest breaks were provided. Conclusion: It is important to provide breaks at work to reduce HPs because of long working hours and shift work among aged workers such as apartment janitors.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.483-487
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• 2023

The objectives of the study were to explore the employment factors associated with long working hours, known as a risk factor for various health outcomes. The study relied on the national representative data of the 2013 French working conditions survey and a study sample of 23,378 full-time employees. Long working hours were defined by the threshold of 48 hours a week following the European Working Time Directive. The prevalence of long working hours was higher among men (13.5%) than among women (8.5%). Employees of the private sector, with permanent work contract, in small companies, and men in the services had a higher prevalence of exposure. This prevalence increased with educational and occupational levels. Our findings may help decision-makers to define preventive strategies. More research is needed to improve our knowledge of the employment factors associated with long working hours, as there may be strong differences between countries.