Following Last Year... Wage Increase Remains the Top New Year's Wish for Office Workers This Year

Third Place in Employment Stability This Year and Third Place Last Year in Work-Family Balance
70.6% of Office Workers Expect Their Work Life to Improve Next Year

Most office workers identified 'wage increase' as their New Year's wish related to work.

According to the civic group Workplace Bullying 119 on the 31st, a survey conducted by polling specialist Embrain Public from the 4th to the 11th of this month targeted 1,000 office workers nationwide aged 19 and older. The results showed that 77.7% of respondents across all age groups said their New Year's wish was a 'wage increase' (multiple responses allowed).

On the first day of the New Year 2023, citizens are hanging wish papers on the Tower of Wishes at Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Following that, the wishes were 'easing of labor intensity and reduction of working hours' at 25.8%, 'employment stability and conversion to regular employment' at 24.3%, and 'freedom to use vacation' at 18.4%, in that order.

In a similar survey conducted by the same organization from December 7 to 14 last year targeting 1,000 office workers, 78% (780 people) chose 'wage increase' as their New Year's wish, showing a similar pattern this year.

Among these, last year 'reduction of working hours' was 22.4%, and 'work-life balance' was 20.1%, indicating many workers focused on balancing work and life, whereas this year, wishes for employment stability were higher.

The second most common wish varied by age group. This year, people in their 20s chose 'changing to a better company,' those in their 30s and 40s chose 'easing of labor intensity and reduction of working hours,' and those in their 50s chose 'employment stability and conversion to regular employment' as the second most common wish after wage increase. The wishes of people in their 20s and 30s/40s remained the same as last year, but the wish of those in their 50s changed from 'work-life balance' last year to 'employment stability and conversion to regular employment,' reflecting the reality of middle-aged workers approaching retirement.

Wishes also differed depending on employment type. In this year's survey, 'employment stability and conversion to regular employment' was chosen by 35.8% of non-regular workers, more than twice the 16.7% of regular workers, whereas responses for 'wage increase' (non-regular 67.8%, regular 84.3%) and 'easing of labor intensity and reduction of working hours' (non-regular 21.0%, regular 29.0%) were higher among regular workers.

The outlook that work life will improve next year was 70.6%, more than twice the 29.4% who expected it to worsen.

Regarding the outlook on workplace bullying, 52.0% of women and 51.5% of non-regular workers expected it would not decrease, contrasting with 61.6% of men and 60.5% of regular workers who anticipated bullying would decrease.

A representative from Workplace Bullying 119 said, "Non-regular workers suffer from employment insecurity more than any other condition," and added, "As soon as the Supreme Court ruled on the 25th that the standard for overtime work exceeding limits should be calculated on a weekly basis, the government quickly responded by calling it a 'reasonable ruling that can secure flexibility in working hours,' which undermines office workers' New Year's wishes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.