[Editorial] Sharing as solution

The job market is gloomy, as the number of jobs to be created this year is projected to fall 30 percent. The administration says 280,000 jobs will be created in 2012, down 120,000 from last year.

These worsening prospects are behind the administration’s push for job sharing. One idea in this regard is to reinterpret a labor law enforcement decree to make it unlawful to exclude hours worked on holidays and weekends from a 12-hour limit to a legally permissible extension to a 40-hour workweek.

An employee doing up to 12 additional hours during the weekdays is currently allowed to work additional hours during the weekend. But his employer would be culpable under the proposal if he were found to have worked more than 52 hours in one week.

The administration’s decision should be welcomed, not just because it lives up to the spirit of the basic labor law, but because Koreans have been overworking themselves. In 2010, Korea had the longest work hours among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ― 2,193 hours per worker or about 400 hours more than the OECD average.

But unions are not enthusiastic about the change. They are concerned about a cut in income that is most likely to follow, and all the more so, given that the household income has been stagnant in recent years.

Employers find it difficult to voice outright opposition to the administration’s decision in public. But they are concerned about cost increases. If they wish to keep the current level of production, they will have to put more people on their payrolls ― a much more costly alternative to extended work hours. Moreover, they are also concerned about a potential union demand for additional wage increases to make up for reduced income.

But all parties concerned will have to acknowledge that there will be no short-term fixes to the problems for employers and employees alike. The administration, employers and unions will have to cooperate in pursuing higher growth, a productivity increase and other long-term goals as ultimate solutions.

Another idea of job sharing that merits serious consideration is reducing the number of industries that are excluded from the 40-hour workweek and 12-hour extension. As the administration says, it is a problem indeed if as many as 42.7 percent of workers are not covered by the law now.