This file photo taken on Oct. 14, 2020, shows pedestrians in downtown Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite the steady growth of flexible work arrangements, the number of South Korean workers who can’t afford to take advantage of such benefits remains significant, a business lobby said Wednesday.
According to an analysis of data from Statistics Korea conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries, the number of workers using a flexible work arrangement totaled 3.53 million in August 2021, equivalent to 16.8 percent of the total workforce.
The number of workers using a flexible work arrangement has been growing by 25.6 percent per year since these types of working conditions were introduced in 2016.
However, the number of individuals who want to benefit from such an arrangement but can’t afford to do so is estimated at 7.48 million, about two times higher than those who are actually able to benefit from them.
The workers who can’t afford to use a flexible work arrangement showed a preference towards a selective work hour arrangement (14.6 percent), elastic work arrangement (13.6 percent), shortened work hour arrangement (10.2 percent) and a staggered commute arrangement (9.1 percent).
The use of a flexible work arrangement also differed depending on the size of the company, with 42.6 percent of large companies with more than 300 employees offering flexible work arrangements, far higher than the 7.2 percent of small companies with fewer than 30 employees.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
