South Korea ditches 69-hour workweek plan after youth revolt

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South Korea has backed off a plan to elongate the workweek to 69 hours after a near-revolt by the nation’s younger individuals.

5 years in the past, South Korea cut the number of hours that its labor-obsessed people were allowed to work to 52 in complete — an everyday 40 hours, then 12 hours of paid extra time.

However earlier this month, the nation’s conservative authorities sought to lift the cap after pressure from business groups who want to boost productivity, in accordance with CNN Enterprise.

Younger individuals had been having none of it, the Washington Post reported.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s recognition instantly tanked amongst Millennial and Technology Z employees — simply 4 days after his administration introduced the plan, his disapproval scores leapt amongst these age teams to 79 and 66%, respectively, in accordance with the Washington Submit.

The offended backlash has compelled the federal government to rethink the proposal.


Younger employees torpedoed a plan to spice up South Korea’s work cap to 69 hours per week.
AFP through Getty Photos

A worker assembles a bean grinder for export to Europe, Japan and South Korea at a factory in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu province, Feb 28, 2023.
South Korea’s work points mirror these in China and Japan, each of which have had issues with individuals working themselves to dying.
Future Publishing through Getty Photos

“The president views workweeks longer than 60 hours as unrealistic, even when together with extra time,” stated Ahn Sang-hoon, a senior presidential adviser, in accordance with the Washington Submit. “The federal government will pay attention extra fastidiously to opinions from [Millennials and Generation Z] employees”

South Koreans are already relative workaholics, logging a mean of 1,915 hours per employee yearly, in accordance with the Group for Financial Cooperation and Growth.


Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions carry balloons as they march during a rally on International Women's Day in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The letters read "Let's protect the trade unions."
Korean commerce union members have lengthy rallied to guard employee’s rights within the nation.
AP

Labor union members participate in a May Day rally near the Seoul City Hall on May 01, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held the May Day rally to protest against the government's labor policies.
Many in South Korea say they nonetheless toil above and past the federal government cap.
Getty Photos

Solely individuals in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico toiled extra in 2021, the group stated. The US averaged about 1,791 hours per yr as compared.

South Korea started limiting labor hours in 2018 after a whole lot died from overwork the yr earlier than, according to The Week.

The phenomenon — know within the nation as “gwarosa,” or “dying by overwork” — included fatalities from coronary heart assaults, strokes, industrial accidents or sleep-deprived driving, The Week reported.


A photo of South Koreans working at their desks.
South Koreans are already relative workaholics, logging a mean of 1,915 hours per employee yearly, in accordance with knowledge.
AFP through Getty Photos

Some South Koreans advised the Washington Submit that they nonetheless go above and past the federal government cap for no compensation. However few had been wanting to formally return to longer workweeks.

“We’ve already felt the advantages of shorter weeks,” Lee Jong-sun, a professor of labor relations at Korea College’s Graduate College of Labor Research in Seoul, advised the Washington Submit. “Why would anybody need to return?”



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