The Korean government plans to allow more workers to reduce their working hours from next year, as part of efforts to improve working conditions, increase employment and add flexibility to the nation’s labor market.
Currently under the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, only workers with children are entitled to reduce their working hours to better balance work and family life. But the government plans to give not only working parents but others who wish to study or take care of their families to transfer their working status from full-time to part-time. Those who choose to cut their working hours can return to full-time work later if they wish.
To encourage businesses to expand the part-time system, the government will offer financial subsidies to help them hire different types of workers. The government has allocated 32.6 billion won ($31 million), a nearly 44 percent increase from 22.7 billion won from this year to promote the part-time shift program next year.
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| (Yonhap) |
“The plan is currently under discussion with related ministries,” an official said. “We are mulling measures to guarantee job stability and offer more benefits to part-timers, and to expand grants to businesses.”
Under the plan, businesses are required to pay more than 130 percent of minimum wage to those who choose to work as part-timers and to allow them to work between 15 and 30 hours a week. They will be entitled to four major insurance benefits, including health insurance and the national pension service. The part-time system will stipulate that workers who reduce their hours must not be discriminated against in relation to full-time workers.
The Park Geun-hye administration has been promoting the creation of good quality part-time jobs to increase the nation’s employment rate to 70 percent. The rate averaged 65.2 percent between January and August.
In November, the Ministry of Labor unveiled comprehensive measures aimed at creating 2.38 million new jobs. Of the 2.38 million jobs, nearly 40 percent or 930,000 jobs were expected to be created through the part-time system.
The measure drew concerns from labor groups that it could result in increasing part-time jobs and lowering work quality. Observers say that despite the government’s efforts, businesses have been hesitant to encourage part-time work due to the financial burden of hiring new workers to take up the shortfall, and the work culture that values long working hours.
Experts say that the government needs to create more attractive conditions for female workers so that they will return to the work while raising children.
“To increase the employment rate, the government should offer flexible working hours to attract women back to work,” Kim Yong-seong, senior researcher at the state-run Korea Development Institute, told Yonhap.
“Promoting the part-time system is one good example, but the government should offer more diverse working systems to help them better balance work and home,” he added.
According to OECD reports, the economic participation rate of Korean women was 55.2 percent, which is far lower than that of Japan and the United States with 63.4 percent and 67.6 percent, respectively.
By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)
