Dear MEL Topic Readers,
This country wanted a 69-hour workweek. Millennials and Generation Z had other ideas
With a population of 51 million, South Korea had been enjoying rapid and steady economic growth in the last few decades and is now the 13th largest economy in the world. However, the growth came with the cost of overwork. Even after the reduction of weekly work hours to 52 from 68 in 2018, South Koreans worked an average of 1,915 hours, 200 hours longer than the OECD average. Then the government recently tried to increase the cap to 69 hours per week because of pressure from business groups. As the nation has been marking the world’s lowest fertility rate and started losing its population, working longer hours sounded like a make-sense solution for some people. However, millennials, who were born between 1981 and 1996, and Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, opposed such a backward move to workers’ well-being and health. In fact, long working hours and work pressure in South Korea are said to have been the main cause of the nation’s high suicide rate, the fourth only after small undeveloped countries. Will cutting back a national holiday like Denmark help increase the economic output more than working longer hours on weekdays?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about what longer work hours mean for people and the economy.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/18/asia/south-korea-longer-work-week-debate-intl-hnk/index.html
This country wanted a 69-hour workweek. Millennials and Generation Z had other ideas
With a population of 51 million, South Korea had been enjoying rapid and steady economic growth in the last few decades and is now the 13th largest economy in the world. However, the growth came with the cost of overwork. Even after the reduction of weekly work hours to 52 from 68 in 2018, South Koreans worked an average of 1,915 hours, 200 hours longer than the OECD average. Then the government recently tried to increase the cap to 69 hours per week because of pressure from business groups. As the nation has been marking the world’s lowest fertility rate and started losing its population, working longer hours sounded like a make-sense solution for some people. However, millennials, who were born between 1981 and 1996, and Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, opposed such a backward move to workers’ well-being and health. In fact, long working hours and work pressure in South Korea are said to have been the main cause of the nation’s high suicide rate, the fourth only after small undeveloped countries. Will cutting back a national holiday like Denmark help increase the economic output more than working longer hours on weekdays?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about what longer work hours mean for people and the economy.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/18/asia/south-korea-longer-work-week-debate-intl-hnk/index.html
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