Issue Focus

● South Korea cut its maximum legal working hours per week to 52, down from 68. The revised law was applied, from July 2018, first at work sites with 300 employees or more. But The government will suspend the punishment for violating 52-hour Workweek Regime, considering the impact on the industry and the labor sector. ● The results of a survey on actual difficulties for construction companies subject to 52-hour Workweek Regime are as follows: 1) The biggest problem was the 'indifference of the ordering organization to change the working conditions' and 'deterioration of the management status due to the increase of the construction cost'. 2) And The biggest problem of the current flexible working hours system is that 'the period of time to operate the flexible working hours system is too short' and 'overtime hours are limited to weekly rather than monthly'. ● In order to ensure that 52-hour Workweek Regime is settled as a mutually beneficial system for both workers and corporations, it is necessary for the government to actively take measures to complement the situation during the six-month grace period. The concrete measures are as follows : 1) The government needs detailed calculation method for the construction cost that increases due to 52-hour Workweek Regime. 2) It is necessary to expand the range of flexible working hours system. 3) Efforts should be made to reform the working method in order to improve the productivity of enterprises.