"Neither Here Nor There" Desperate Resident Doctors Struggling to Make Ends Meet... 80-Hour Weeks and Short-Term Part-Time Jobs

Some Residents Seek Employment Opportunities at Hospitals and Clinics
Seoul Medical Association Launches 'Job Board'

Residents who left medical sites in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school quotas are seeking part-time jobs at hospitals and clinics to make a living. However, most residents' resignation letters have not been accepted, making it impossible for them to be employed at other hospitals.

On the 6th, the Seoul Medical Association opened a job board to help residents. Posts on this board include requests such as "Looking for doctors for simple observation" and "Preference given to medical students, interns, and residents." Some private practitioners also posted job ads offering "preference to residents." As the standoff with the government prolonged, residents began looking for jobs to earn living expenses. In particular, they expressed willingness to work part-time at hospitals and clinics with general practitioner qualifications. Previously, private practitioners and medical organizations, including the Seoul Medical Association, expressed their intention to actively hire them.

On the 5th, medical staff were walking at a large hospital in Seoul where advance administrative notices of license suspension and other penalties were sent to about 7,000 residents who left their workplaces in opposition to the government's policy to increase medical school quotas.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

However, the biggest obstacle blocking residents' employment is their resignation letters, which have not yet been accepted. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has stated that residents' resignation letters have not been accepted and that the resignations themselves have no effect, so they still consider them as residents. Under current law, those with resident status cannot be employed at other hospitals or clinics. According to Article 14 of the Regulations on Training and Qualification Recognition of Specialists, residents must not open medical institutions and, except in very exceptional cases, cannot work at medical institutions other than their training hospitals.

On the 6th, the Seoul Medical Association opened a job posting board to assist residents. The board includes posts such as "Seeking simple observers" and "Preference given to medical students, interns, and residents." [Photo by Seoul Medical Association website]

The government also maintained the position that hiring residents could be illegal according to related laws. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official stated, "Since a medical service maintenance order was issued to residents before the termination of contracts due to collective resignation submissions, the resignation has no effect," and "Because the resignation letters have not been accepted, the resident status is maintained." He added, "Restricting residents from holding concurrent positions is to ensure that residents, who are trainees aiming to acquire specialist qualifications, faithfully complete their original training process, so working concurrently at other medical institutions is illegal."

Residents Working Part-Time to Make Ends Meet... Return Rate 'Minimal'

Due to regulations, some residents in urgent situations reportedly sought jobs not at hospitals or clinics but at logistics centers, restaurants, and convenience stores. Residents have experience working harshly for 80 hours a week. Among them, on the 4th, a doctor named A posted that some residents were working part-time at Coupang. In the post, he said, "They work part-time to exercise and earn living expenses. They earned 200,000 to 300,000 KRW per day as Coupang delivery workers, had plenty of time to sleep, and found it convenient to eat. They said the earnings were good compared to the work."

A said, "A friend who is a manager at a Coupang logistics center recently told me about a new part-timer who was somehow peculiar and worked quickly." He continued, "After the first day of work, the person said they had something to say, pointed out inefficiencies in the system, and suggested how to improve it. The suggestions were so novel that no one had ever thought of them before, so they thought the person was a dispatched employee from headquarters."

He added, "When asked if they had worked at other logistics centers, they said they had done somewhat similar work at their previous job. They were different from existing part-timers, so even though they were a part-timer, they wanted to appoint them as a team leader." He also added as a PS (postscript), "The government's policy seems to have a huge effect. The trickle-down effect of doctors seems to have reached Coupang. I suddenly wonder which department junior they were."

However, the post spread across many online communities and received criticism from netizens for being unrealistic. Recently, the pay for Coupang part-time work during the two days of the Samiljeol holiday (March 1 and 2) was about 250,000 KRW in total. This amount included overtime pay, holiday incentives, and weekly holiday allowances. It amounts to about 120,000 KRW per day. Coupang part-time workers usually receive an hourly wage of 9,860 KRW. When working at a hub, the wage is slightly over 10,000 KRW.

Pay varies depending on working hours. Before tax, the day shift (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) earns 93,670 KRW per day, the evening shift (6 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day) earns 118,320 KRW, and the night shift (10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day) earns 114,863 KRW. On holidays, the day shift earns 138,040 KRW, the evening shift 168,960 KRW, and the night shift 153,150 KRW.

It has been reported that nearly 9,000 residents have left their workplaces. The government plans to send advance notices for administrative measures, such as license suspension, to them starting from the 5th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

To earn 200,000 to 300,000 KRW per day, one would need to work consecutive day and evening shifts, but Coupang restricts such working methods through its system. In reality, it is nearly impossible for someone new to Coupang part-time work to earn 300,000 KRW a day. Expressions such as "the part-timer pointed out system issues to the team leader" and "wanted to hire the part-timer as a team leader" were also criticized by netizens for lacking credibility. Some netizens harshly criticized, saying, "Is this a doctor’s literary Coupang part-time story?", "They clearly have no experience with part-time jobs," and "They lack a sense of reality."

Earlier, on the 5th, the government sent preliminary administrative sanction notices to residents who had not returned. The Ministry of Health and Welfare held a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong on the same day to announce the results of inspections of 100 training hospitals. As of 8 p.m. on the 4th, excluding new interns, 9,970 residents from years 1 to 4 were inspected, and 8,983 were found to have left their workplaces. The government plans to conduct additional on-site inspections and will proceed with license suspension procedures if violations of work commencement orders are confirmed.

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