SOUTH KOREA: South Korea’s urgent demographic crisis, marked by one of the world’s lowest birth rates, may find its solution in a drastic overhaul of its work culture. A new study from the Gyeonggi Research Institute (GRI) featured in a recent South China Morning Post report argues that reducing the standard workweek to 35 hours is critical in reversing the nation’s fertility decline.
The report highlights a troubling trend — long working hours discourage young couples from starting families. In South Korea, where work culture demands long hours for career advancement, balancing demanding jobs and family responsibilities has become nearly impossible for many. The nation’s fertility rate, already the lowest in the world, has further dipped, dropping from 0.78 children per woman in 2022 to 0.72 in 2023—well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman.
According to GRI’s findings, the current workweek, set at 52 hours by law in 2018 (40 hours of regular work plus up to 12 hours of overtime), is insufficient to encourage family planning. The study points to a clear trend: Excessive work hours are cited as the most significant barrier to family life. In a 2024 poll of 1,000 South Korean workers aged 20 to 59, 26.1% of men and 24.6% of women identified long hours as their primary obstacle to balancing work and family responsibilities.
Among dual-income households in their 30s, the desire for reduced work hours is particularly strong, with many seeking to cut an average of 84 to 87 minutes from their daily workday. For many, a better work-life balance is essential for managing careers and childcare.
The GRI recommends that public institutions take the lead in shortening the workweek, focusing on including commuting time as part of paid working hours. Yoo Jeong-gyun, a research fellow at GRI, emphasised that the gap between actual and desired working hours is most pronounced among working couples with children. “Lowering the legal workweek to 35 hours is a necessary step.”
This push to reduce work hours comes amidst growing efforts in South Korea to improve work-life balance and tackle the nation’s demographic challenges. In 2024, Gyeonggi Province launched a pilot four-day workweek programme involving over 50 organisations, offering workers the choice between a compressed schedule every other week or reduced daily hours.
In addition to efforts to shorten work hours, South Korea has introduced other measures to address its low birth rate, including expanding parental leave benefits. In 2024, the government doubled-paid paternity leave to 20 days and made it easier for fathers to take leave at multiple intervals. New childcare leave entitlements were also introduced for parents of young children.
With these initiatives, South Korea is exploring new ways to foster a healthier work-life balance that could pave the way for a more sustainable future for families.