Korea Employers Federation: "Part-time Jobs Doubled Over 10 Years"

Over the past decade, part-time jobs in South Korea have doubled. This increase is attributed to the growth of part-time positions primarily held by middle-aged and older women in service industries such as healthcare and social welfare. However, 'quality part-time jobs'?those with stable employment and no discrimination compared to full-time positions?remain insufficient in our society.

On the 24th, the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) revealed these findings in a report titled "Changes and Implications of Part-Time Workers Over the Past Decade." According to the report, as of 2023, the number of part-time jobs in South Korea reached 3.873 million, a 90.3% increase compared to 1.838 million ten years ago.

Compared to a 7.5% increase in full-time workers during the same period, this is a significant rise. The number of part-time jobs has grown faster than any other employment type in the past decade.

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Analyzing part-time jobs by sector as of last year, increases were concentrated among women (70%), those with a high school diploma or less (70%), small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 300 employees (97%), and the healthcare and social welfare service industries (39%). Youngtae Lim, Head of Employment and Social Policy at KEF, analyzed, "This indicates a deepening dual structure in the labor market based on gender and educational background."

Notably, most of the part-time jobs added over the past decade (98%, 3.76 million) were created in businesses with fewer than 300 employees. Furthermore, 'quality part-time jobs'?those with stable employment and good wages and benefits, showing little difference from regular workers?remain scarce.

Last year, South Korea had 545,000 'quality part-time jobs,' which is about 3.2 times more than ten years ago. However, these quality part-time jobs accounted for only 14% of all part-time jobs, a relatively low proportion.

On the other hand, the proportion of workers who voluntarily chose part-time work has increased. Last year, 59.8% of part-time workers selected this employment type voluntarily, up 12 percentage points from 47.7% ten years ago. In particular, more workers chose part-time work due to satisfaction with working conditions, which KEF interprets as an improvement in the perception of part-time jobs.

Head Lim emphasized, "Due to the entrenched dual structure of our labor market, qualitative improvements in part-time jobs have not been sufficiently achieved. Labor reforms, including flexible working hours, must be steadily implemented to facilitate the smooth creation of quality part-time jobs."

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