Employees in one of the most overworked countries in Asia are about to get a break after South Korea passed a bill to reduce the typical work week in an effort to improve quality of life and boost employment. 
 
 South Korea’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed the law which cut the maximum weekly work hours to 52, down from 68. The law comes into force in July and will apply to large companies before being rolled out to smaller businesses. 
 
 The cut was a campaign promise by President Moon Jae-in, who also secured a 16% increase in the minimum wage this year. 
 
 The law faced opposition from businesses but was seen as necessary to improve living standards, create more jobs and boost productivity. It is also aimed at increasing the country’s birth rate, which hit record lows last year. 
 
 As South Korea’s economy boomed in the 80s and 90s, a workaholic culture took hold and the birth rate plummeted. Chung Hyun-back, the gender equality and family minister, has called the country’s working hours “inhumanely long” and said they were a factor in the South’s rapidly ageing society. 
 
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 South Koreans workers have some of the longest weeks among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind only Mexico. The group of mostly developed economies does not include countries such as China and India, and developing countries tend to work more. 
 
 But South Koreans still work about 400 more hours a year compared with workers in the UK and Australia, about 10 additional standard work weeks, despite having relatively similar average incomes. 
 
 The new South Korean work week will consist of 40 normal hours and an additional 12 hours of overtime. It could cost businesses an additional 12tn won ($11bn) a year to maintain the same levels of production, according to a study by the Korean Economic Research Institute. 
 
 The new law reduced the number of exempted businesses from 26 to five, including transport and healthcare. People under 18 will also only be able to work 35 hours a week, down from 40, equivalent to a typical week in France. ||||| SMEs show concern over snowballing labor cost 
 
 
 
 By Yoon Ja-young 
 
 
 
 The bill to slash working hours was approved by the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, Tuesday, which while allowing workers to enjoy a better quality of life, could raise the costs for small- and medium-sized businesses. 
 
 
 
 The bill cuts the maximum statutory working hours to 52 hours a week from the current 68 hours. It is expected to get approval at a plenary session as early as Wednesday since it passed the committee with the consensus of both the governing and opposition parties. 
 
 
 
 Slashing working hours was among the main election pledges of President Moon Jae-in, which he said will improve quality of life as well as help create jobs. 
 
 
 
 However, fewer working hours means higher labor costs for businesses. According to an estimate by the Korea Economic Research Institute, businesses will pay an additional 12.1 trillion won annually to maintain current production while cutting the working hours. This includes wages paid to additional workers hired to cover the hours lost, as well as their training costs. 
 
 
 
 It is especially likely to hit the manufacturing and transportation industries as working overtime has been the norm there. Labor ministry data from 2012 showed that employees in manufacturing work on average 28.1 extra hours a month. SMEs will be damaged more than conglomerates. The institute explained that small businesses hiring fewer than 300 will pay 8.6 trillion won of the extra costs, or 70 percent of the total. 
 
 
 
 To minimize the impact on industry, the committee agreed to apply different schedules for adoption of the new law depending on the size of the business. Large businesses hiring more than 300 workers will be subject to it beginning July, while implementation will be delayed to July 2021 for businesses with less than 50 workers. 
 
 
 
 The labor ministry said the government will prepare support plans for small businesses. 
 
 
 
 "Most large businesses have been preparing for shorter working hours since last year when discussions gained momentum. The government will prepare supportive measures for small businesses that might face difficulties due to the revision," a ministry official said.
– South Korea's maximum workweek, which had been called "inhumanely long" at 68 hours, has been cut to 52. President Moon Jae-in had vowed to cut the workweek during his campaign; also this year, he oversaw a 16% minimum-wage increase. South Korea's National Assembly passed the workweek law, which takes effect in July for large companies and will later be applied to smaller companies. Companies with fewer than 50 employees won't need to comply until July 2021. In addition to improving quality of life and creating more jobs, lawmakers hope the move will boost the country's birthrate. A "workaholic culture" became the norm in South Korea when the economy started booming in the 1980s, the Guardian reports, and the birthrate fell fast. Last year, it hit record lows. The country's gender equality and family minister has blamed the long work hours for the country's aging population. But businesses opposed the move to reduce work hours, which could cost them an additional $11 billion per year to maintain productivity levels, the Korea Times reports. South Koreans work around 400 hours more per year than those in the UK and Australia.