"Friday Half-Day Becoming Routine"... Outlook for '4.5-Day Workweek' Becoming Reality

Report Commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and Labor
1,859 Actual Working Hours in 2024

There are projections that South Korea's actual working hours will decrease to 1,739 hours by 2030.

On May 5, Yonhap News reported on the findings of the final report from the "Forum on Labor Time System Improvement for the Roadmap to Reducing Actual Working Hours," commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and conducted by the Korea Labor and Management Relations Association. According to the report, the estimated annual working hours for South Korea in 2030 is 1,739 hours.

Office workers are heading to work at the Sejongno Intersection in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Previously, the Ministry of Employment and Labor set a goal to reduce South Korea's actual working hours in 2024, which is 1,859 hours, to the 1,700-hour range—close to the OECD average of 1,708 hours—by 2030.

The report explained, "Following the implementation of the 40-hour workweek, amendments to the Labor Standards Act were made to further reduce working hours. As a result, the average annual working hours decreased by 137 hours, from 1,996 hours in 2017 to 1,859 hours in 2024." The report cited the decline in the proportion of employees working long hours (over 40 hours per week), due to the introduction of the five-day workweek and the 52-hour workweek cap, as the main reason for the reduction in annual working hours.

However, the report noted that "although working hours in South Korea are decreasing rapidly, they remain among the highest within OECD countries." South Korea ranks sixth among the 37 OECD member countries in terms of annual working hours. Countries with longer working hours than South Korea include Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, and Israel. In contrast, annual working hours in European countries are significantly lower: Germany records 1,294 hours, the Netherlands 1,367 hours, and France 1,390 hours per year.

Japan recorded 1,636 hours, which is below the OECD average, and the United States recorded 1,810 hours—higher than the OECD average but still less than South Korea.

The report identified the lack of diversity in working hours as a reason why working hours in South Korea remain high. In South Korea, 53.1% of workers are on a 40-hour workweek, exceeding half the workforce, whereas the proportion is much lower in Germany (30.9%), France (12.5%), and the United Kingdom (15.9%). Within the European Union, only Luxembourg (55.4%) and Portugal (57.3%) have a majority of workers concentrated in the 40-hour workweek, similar to South Korea.

There was also a notable gap in vacation practices compared to major European countries. In South Korea, only 3% of employees take temporary leave during the summer vacation season, while in major European countries, the figure reaches about 50%. While summer vacations are actively taken in Europe, South Korean employees tend to hesitate to take consecutive days off due to workplace culture.

The report emphasized, "Most of the reduction in South Korea's annual working hours thus far has stemmed from a decrease in the proportion of employees working long hours, exceeding 40 hours per week." It continued, "Given that the share of long-hour work has already dropped significantly compared to the past, it will be difficult to maintain the downward trend in working hours without additional reduction efforts." The report also pointed out the need for institutional support to address the potential decline in labor productivity accompanying shorter actual working hours. Furthermore, it stated, "Uniform regulations on the upper limit of working hours have a negative impact on corporate productivity," and added, "It is necessary to pursue a direction of reducing working hours in tandem with improving corporate productivity."

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