Kim Moon-soo, the People Power Party presidential candidate, and Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate, are presenting opposing pledges regarding working hours. Candidate Kim supports applying the current weekly 52-hour working system flexibly based on labor-management agreements. In contrast, Candidate Lee states that he will introduce a four-day work week in the long term, starting with a 4.5-day work week.
In response, Lee Jun-seok, the Reform Party presidential candidate, said that implementing flexible working hours and reductions without improving productivity is populism.
◇Kim 'expanding freedom of choice in labor hours' Lee 'reducing below OECD average'
As of the 16th, a comprehensive overview of the ten key pledges submitted by each candidate to the National Election Commission and their individual plans reveals that Candidate Kim has proposed 'a country favorable for corporations and work' as his top pledge. He stated that he would push for improvements to the weekly 52-hour working hours based on labor-management agreements immediately upon taking office.
Candidate Kim has repeatedly expressed this position regarding working hour improvements during his time as Minister of Employment and Labor prior to running for president. A representative example is his support for a 'special law for semiconductors' that excluded the application of the weekly 52-hour system for research and development personnel.
After the law's establishment was stalled by opposition from the opposition party, Minister Kim introduced a system that extended the special overtime period for semiconductor research positions from three months to six months per instance. The special overtime allows workers to work up to 64 hours a week if they are inevitably required to exceed the legal overtime hours. By utilizing this system, workers can work a maximum of 62 hours per week during the first three months, and a maximum of 60 hours per week during the subsequent three months.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung stated that he would reduce working hours to below the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average by 2030. As of 2023, Korea's annual working hours stand at 1,872 hours, which is 157 hours longer than the OECD member countries' average of 1,717 hours. Among the 34 OECD member countries, Korea ranks fifth in terms of the highest working hours, following Mexico (2,207 hours), Chile (1,953 hours), and Israel (1,880 hours).
Accordingly, Candidate Lee mentioned that he would support the implementation of a 4.5-day work week at a government-wide level and push for a four-day work week in the long term. In a Facebook post at the end of April, he stated, 'The persistent overtime, excessive work stress, and constant lack of rest are exhausting workers' lives,' adding that 'it is time to embark on a bold policy shift for a sustainable balance between work and life.'
It is not the first time that Candidate Lee has proposed such policies. In a speech at the National Assembly in June 2023, while serving as the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, he also stated, 'We must transition to a society with a four-day work week, starting with the introduction of a 4.5-day work week.' At that time, he presented this policy as one of the solutions to the low birthrate problem.
◇Lee Jun-seok: 'Flexible working hours and reductions are populism'
Lee Jun-seok, the Reform Party presidential candidate, holds a negative stance on the flexible working hours and reductions proposed by Candidates Kim and Lee.
Candidate Lee stated at the end of April on Facebook, 'To maintain wage levels while transitioning from the current five-day work week to a four-day work week, an improvement of at least 25% in productivity is essential,' adding that 'to achieve this, bold deregulation and a structural reform accompanied by technological innovation, automation, and mechanization to replace human labor are necessary.'
He further remarked, 'An unprepared four-day work week policy is likely to repeat the mistakes of the Moon Jae-in administration, which pushed workers into kiosks by raising the minimum wage too quickly, already raising the limits of productivity.' He stated that as a result, low-wage workers would be the first to lose their jobs.
Currently, the five-day work week has been implemented gradually since 2004. The core of the five-day work week is the reduction of the legal working hours from the previous 44 hours to 40 hours. Compared to major foreign countries, this transition has been slow. The United States introduced it in 1938, and Japan did so in 1987.