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Amid President Yoon Suk-yeol’s continued insistence that the labor market needs reforming, the Ministry of Employment and Labor released a series of proposals, which include bids to restructure the working hour and the wage system in South Korea.

Although the ministry explained that its aim is to “modernize” the employment and labor system to fit the changing needs of the times, its proposal is one that significantly accommodates corporate demands such as expanding the unit of calculation for overtime work. Hence, if made a reality, the proposal is expected to cause a backlash.

According to material made public by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Thursday, the ministry announced that it will consider managing the overtime limit, currently set at 12 hours per week, on a monthly basis. The current 12-hour weekly limit for overtime work would equal a maximum of 52 hours of overtime work (12 hours × 4.345 weeks) over the course of a month, which would mean that one would be able to work a maximum of 92 hours in a week (40 regular work hours + 52 hours of overtime work) if one were to use up all their overtime work hours in a single week.

In other words, the statement Yoon made as a presidential contender that “one should be able to cram in 120 hours of work in a single week” may become a reality.

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik touched on the topic at a briefing at the Sejong Government Complex Thursday morning.

“Measures concerning the protection of [workers’] right to health will be taken as a matter of course. We will consider implementing 11 consecutive hours of rest [in between workdays],” Lee stated. “As we are in the position of requesting experts to research [the matter], it’s difficult for the government to clarify its position.”

According to the minister, implementing 11 consecutive hours of rest in between workdays so that a worker clocking out at midnight could go back to work at 11 am the next day would protect workers’ health from the adverse effects of long work hours. However, it’s unclear whether this system would actually be put into practice, as it’s simply under consideration and was not included in the ministry’s official press material.

In addition, the ministry stated that it would review implementing a “work hour savings account system,” whereby overtime work would be rewarded with time off; expanding the settlement period for the flexible work hour system; and relaxing regulations regarding work hours for startups and specialists.

Restructuring the wage system around job function and performance, which was actively pursued during the Park Geun-hye administration only to worsen the relationship between labor and management as well as the relationship between labor and the government, was also included as the Employment and Labor Ministry’s major policy objective.

The ministry has pointed to “the difficulty labor and management have had reaching a mutual agreement” as the reason the wage system could not be reorganized until now, and has previously stated that it will “review whether there are any policy and institutional tasks that can be tackled to resolve the difficulties on the ground.”

While repeatedly emphasizing the necessity of reforming the labor market, the Employment and Labor Ministry said it will set concrete legislative and policy tasks to pursue based on discussions on the future of the labor market among a research group composed of experts. The research group is scheduled to conduct its activities for four months, from this upcoming July to October.

However, as the projected conclusion of the group’s discussions is already set in stone as part of Yoon’s campaign pledges and the Yoon administration’s “Economic Policy Direction,” labor is skeptical of the research group’s planned activities, which it believes is “simply a means to establish pretext.”

In a commentary, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) stated: “[The administration] means to make work hours even more flexible so as to quash the 52-hour work week and extend working hours indefinitely, to expand the job performance benefit system in order to increase employers’ authority over performance evaluations and reduce wages, and to foment conflict among laborers for these purposes.”

“Personal conviction and expertise as the head of the ministry in charge of labor are nowhere to be found [in Lee],” the KCTU added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho convened the second emergency economic ministerial meeting on the same day, where he announced that he will be kickstarting “labor reform” that restructures the working hour and wage system, labeling the reform of the labor market — one of five structural reforms that will be the focus of the new administration’s economic policy direction as announced on June 16 — as a top priority and a “task that cannot be delayed.”

“Reflecting on the recent advancement and diversification of our economic and industrial structure, labor norms and customs that were formed during industrialization that focused on manufacturing are like clothes that we’ve outgrown,” Choo said.

He added, “Leaving the structure of the labor market, which has become estranged from our economic reality, as is will eat away at our nation’s competitiveness and dynamic potential and, most importantly, rob the youth and future generations of opportunities.”

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter; Lee Ji-hye, staff reporter

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