Korean Employees Work Fewer Years, More Hours than OECD Average

Lawmaker Hong Jong-hak of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy analyzed the labor market data of the OECD member countries for 2012, submitted by the Ministry of Strategy & Finance, and announced on April 1 that Korean employees’ average length of service was 63 months, which was the shortest among all the OECD member countries. The length was 9.4 years and 11.5 years in the United States and Germany, respectively. 

“The shorter length of service implies that the Korean labor market is much more unstable than those of other countries,” the lawmaker pointed out, adding, “At the same time, the high ratio of temporary workers has much to do with the result, which means a number of workers are concerned over their job instability.” Specifically, the ratio of temps is as high as 23.2 percent in Korea, whereas the OECD average is 11.8 percent. 

In the meantime, an average Korean employee’s yearly working hours amounted to 2,092 last year, second only to Mexico and Chile. Germany and the Netherlands were found on the bottom of the list, recording 1,317 and 1,334 hours each on average. 

“This signifies that Korean employees work at least three more hours each day than their German and Dutch counterparts do,” the lawmaker explained.