How a Reduction in Legal Working Hours Affects Employment in the Ocean and Fishery Industries

Abstract

Jeong, S.B.; Chang, J.I.; Choe, S.B., and Choi, S., 2019. How a reduction in legal working hours affects employment in the ocean and fishery industries. In: Lee, J.L.; Yoon, J.-S.; Cho, W.C.; Muin, M., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 3rd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 91, pp. 201-205. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The Korean National Assembly passed amendments to the Labor Standard Act in February 2018. The amendments mainly pertain to reduction in legal working hours (from 68 to 52 hours), excluding some special cases of work hours and recess hours, thus extending mandatory rest time. The amendments will take effect gradually according to the size of enterprises from July 2018 to December 2022. Thus, this study examined the effects of reducing legal working hours on employment in the ocean and fishery industries based on the result of a survey of 1,155 enterprises in this industry. The survey consisted of three parts, the current state of working hours, the impact of reducing working hours on business operations, and the preferred supporting measures from the government. According to the survey results, the average weekly working time is 42.8 hours, and 8.5% of the respondents are expected to be affected by the reduction in working hours. However, only a few companies have developed countermeasures against it. And the smaller the size of a company, the more difficult to come up with countermeasures. In order to establish stable working time reduction, it is essential to improve labor productivity and establish various government support policies.