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S. Korea ranked No. 2 in working hours among OECD countries

November 3, 2015

South Korean office employees work night hours in this file photo. (Korea Times file)

By Brian Han

It’s no secret that South Korea’s working culture demands a lot of time from employees.

A recent report reflects this trend after listing the country as the second highest in average working hours among OECD nations — and third in the world.

The figures apply to both company- and self-employed individuals. The findings showed that on average, South Koreans work 354 more hours per week, or 6.8 hours per week, than the overall average of the 34 countries (1,770 hours).

That number of 2,124 hours per year is on a steady rise and comes second only to Mexico (2,228 hours), which averages 104 more hours per employee than South Korea in the last year.

Mexico exceeded South Korea in this category in 2007 and has been ahead ever since.

Costa Rica actually had a higher number of average hours worked than South Korea at 2,216, but is not part of the OECD nations list.

Germany held the lowest amount of average hours worked per week at 1,371, which comes out to four working months less than in South Korea.

The U.S. came in 13th on the list and reported a number just above average at 1,789 hours per year.

The OECD is made up of 34 nations with high-income economies that are typically highly develop and categorized as first world countries.