SEOUL– South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho called Tuesday for parliament to extend a flexible 52-hour workweek for small businesses, saying a potential failure could cause “unbearable” hardships for small companies.
Under the 52-hour workweek introduced in 2018 by the preceding liberal government, companies with fewer than 30 workers have been allowed to have their employees work an additional eight hours. But the grace period is set to expire at the end of this month, which could affect more than six million workers at the smaller firms.
“Some businesses that need to operate their factories around the clock may be either forced to shut down operations as they cannot secure employees to work in three shifts or their executives could end up becoming lawbreakers as they work to meet shipment dates,” Choo said in a speech at the government complex in central Seoul.
He said if the grace period is not extended, it would cause “unbearable” hardships for small-and-medium sized firms, especially in the shipbuilding and information technology industries.
South Korea has been pushing to extend the grace period for the affected businesses through 2024, claiming that small companies are facing difficulties in hiring workers to comply with the 52-hour workweek scheme.
South Korea has been seeking to reform the 52-hour workweek scheme.
The finance minister called for the opposition-controlled National Assembly to pass the bill by the end of this year for the people’s livelihood.
A labor policy advisory group has advised that companies should be allowed to manage overtime work hours on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly basis, which would pave the way for employees to work up to 69 hours per week.
In 2018, the liberal government introduced the 52-hour workweek to cut what are often called “inhumanely long” working hours in South Korea and strike a balance between work and life.
Still, critics say that the shorter workweek could undermine corporate competitiveness, including for companies in the research and development sector. Some workers also complain that the reduced working hours have led to a drop in their earnings.
Source: Yonhap News Agency