The average Korean worked 1,874 hours a year as of 2023. - Reuters
SEOUL: The South Korean government is pushing ahead with a 4.5-day workweek, a flagship campaign pledge of President Lee Jae-myung, drawing concerns from the business community, which warns that reduced hours could undermine productivity and drive up costs.
On the campaign trail, Lee proposed reducing the statutory workweek from 40 hours to 36 hours without a pay cut, with a goal of bringing Korea’s average annual working hours below the OECD average of 1,742 hours by 2030.
