The Myth of the 52-Hour Workweek Limit

The government has legally mandated that a single worker may not work more than 52 hours a week. In other words, it has used the law to control working hours by setting a weekly cap. Violating this rule by working more than 52 hours in a week is punishable. The worker is not punished, but the employer who provided the job and wages faces up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won.

As restrictions on working more than 52 hours a week have been imposed, side effects such as shrinking employment and disappearing businesses are occurring one after another. The political slogan of creating “a life with evenings” has instead driven people to take on second jobs. It is a tragedy born of political illusion.

A regulation that forcibly reduces working hours is an absurd law that makes no sense. It is already beyond common sense to block people who want to work, but punishing entrepreneurs who provided jobs and overtime pay is outrageous. Trying to reduce average working hours by punishing voluntary market participants seeking to improve their lives is a policy so far removed from economic logic that it amounts to corruption and degeneration.

The very idea of reducing average working hours is misguided from the start. Average working hours are, literally, just an average. They are neither good nor bad in themselves. Working does not harm the individual, nor does it harm society. There is no reason to prevent people from working by law, let alone punish them over it. Average working hours are simply the result of people voluntarily working and hiring in the market.

If the government truly wants to reduce average working hours, the effective way is to ease regulations. There are many ways to reduce average working hours without restricting freedom or imposing punishment. The best choice is to remove regulations on time and work arrangements. As various forms of jobs that had been blocked by regulation naturally emerge, average working hours will decline.

The reason average working hours had not fallen in reality was the system that dualized the labor market into non-regular and regular workers while excessively protecting regular workers. The 52-hour system ignored this and added yet another layer of protection for regular workers. As a result, workers suffered while only labor unions benefited. It became not respect for labor, but respect for unions.

The heavy-handed regulation that says people must not work more than 52 hours a week and employers must not hire is a policy that shows no understanding of reality. Some jobs involve work concentrated into short periods. In some industries, work is concentrated by season. In socialist countries, everything can be controlled and distributed uniformly, but in a free society, people work in diverse ways, so uniform regulation is not appropriate.

An unrealistic system destroys jobs and drives businesses overseas. The most desirable solution is to abolish such a bad law. In a situation where low-income jobs have already been weakened by the sharp increase in the minimum wage, the 52-hour system is causing particularly severe contraction in regular jobs at startups and in specialized industries that operate in diverse ways. It destroys diversity and creativity in work, as well as growth potential. Even more serious is the fact that its harmful effects will persist over the long term.

The current job destruction caused by the forced implementation of the 52-hour workweek resulted from politicians and the government hastily accepting excessive demands from labor unions fighting to protect vested interests. It may benefit unions, but for workers who lose their jobs and for young people whose opportunities for new jobs disappear, it is a disaster. The irresponsibility of the political class is eliminating jobs.

Having belatedly realized the seriousness of the harmful effects of the 52-hour system, the government has proposed a stopgap measure of a guidance period. What is needed is not a guidance period but a five-year grace period to reduce confusion in the field. In addition, the political class should urgently introduce flexible work arrangements (elastic, selective, and discretionary working-hour systems) as supplementary measures.

Sung-no Choi

President, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 주 52시간제라는 '허상'

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2019-11-21

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&pn=23&idx=22078