One of five part-timers in South Korea want to work longer

One out of five workers, or 1.2 million part-timers in South Korea who worked less than 36 hours a week in March want to increase their working hours or move to another job with longer working hours, show data from Statistics Korea. 

The number of individuals who worked less than 36 hours a week reached 5.9 million last month, marking an increase of 836,000, or 16.6% year-on-year, reports Korea Bizwire. Such workers are classified as part-time workers rather than full-time employees. 

By working hours, those who worked between 1 and 17 hours a week stood at 2.2 million, up 565,000, or 35.5% year-on-year. 

Meanwhile, those who worked between 18 and 35 hours a week rose by 7.9% or 272,000, to 3.7 million. Among these, some chose to work part-time, however there are still those who are stuck in part-time jobs not by choice. 

READ: South Korea’s minimum wage under debate

In March, South Korea’s employment numbers totalled 26.92 million, up 314,000 year-on-year, marking its first positive job addition number since March 2020, and breaking its longest decline of 12 straight months since 1998, Pulse News said.

Of that, the healthcare and social welfare service sector gained the highest number of jobs over the month, at 171,000, followed by public administration, defense and public service administration, at 94,000.