Last year, the annual average working hours of employed people in Korea totaled 1,833 hours. It decreased from the previous year, but it is the sixth longest in the world.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the 5th, last year's annual average working hours in Korea fell by 32 hours from the previous year (1,865 hours). Working hours have been decreasing every year. From 2,163 hours in 2010, working hours dropped to 1,992 hours in 2018, when the 52-hour workweek was introduced. They have continued to decline since then, reaching the 1,800-hour range last year.
However, Korea's annual average working hours are 97 hours longer than the OECD average (1,736 hours). Among the 36 countries for which last year's annual average working hours were confirmed, Korea ranks sixth. Countries where people work longer than in Korea are Mexico (2,205 hours), Costa Rica (2,183 hours), Chile (1,912 hours), Greece (1,874 hours), and Israel (1,870 hours). Among advanced economies, the United States recorded 1,800 hours, Australia 1,633 hours, Japan 1,598 hours, the United Kingdom 1,533 hours, France 1,498 hours, and Germany 1,332 hours.
The government plans to lower actual working hours to the OECD average of the 1,700-hour range by 2030. The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) plans to promote measures such as introducing a 4.5-day workweek to achieve this. Through the "work-life balance+4.5 project," the ministry is providing up to 600,000 won per worker per month to small and midsize companies that reduce actual working hours with measures such as a 4.5-day workweek without cutting wages.
Some argue that rigid labor structures should be improved to shorten working hours. In February, the Korea Labor and Employment Relations Association, in its final report from the "forum on improving working-hours systems to prepare a roadmap for reducing actual working hours," said, "Working hours are not diverse." That means a full-time–centered labor structure—such as a five-day workweek and eight hours a day—has become entrenched. The association said, "We should also consider broadening the range of choices for working-hour arrangements and diversifying the units used to calculate working hours."