Decreased after 3 years of full-time employment...1.75 million won 'maximum' difference in wages between non-regular workers and non-regular workers

The wage gap between regular and non-regular workers is 1.75 million won 'the largest ever'

13.65 million full-time workers...147,000 fewer

Fewer Full-time Workers in 3 Years...Manufacturing and construction industries, etc.

Non-regular workers rise 337,000 as part-time workers surge

[Anchor]
The number of full-time workers has decreased in three years due to sluggish domestic demand.

As a result, the proportion of non-regular workers exceeded 38%, the second largest ever.

In addition, the wage gap between regular and non-regular workers widened to 1.75 million won, the largest ever.

Lee Seung-eun reports.

[Reporter]
As of August this year, the number of full-time workers was 13.65 million, down 147,000 from a year ago.

It is the first time in three years that the number of full-time workers has declined since 2021.

It seems to be due to sluggish domestic demand.

[Lim Kyung-eun / Director of Employment Statistics at Statistics Korea: The number of full-time employees in the manufacturing sector, construction, wholesale/retail, accommodation/food industry, etc. has decreased significantly. In the case of the manufacturing industry, while the number of regular workers decreased, the number of non-regular workers increased, mainly among men aged 60 or older.]

On the other hand, the number of non-regular workers increased by 337,000 from a year ago.

This is because the number of part-time workers has increased, focusing on women and over 60 years old, young people and the service industry.

(Note: Part-time workers refer to workers who work in the same workplace for at least one hour shorter than the working hours of workers.)

As a result, out of the 22 million wage workers, 8.459 million non-regular workers accounted for 38.2%.

The share was the second largest ever, up 1.2%p from a year ago.

The average monthly wage for non-regular workers exceeded 2 million won for the first time.

However, the wage gap between regular and non-regular workers widened to 1.74 million won.

It's the biggest gap ever.

According to the social insurance coverage rate for non-regular workers, the national pension decreased by nearly 1%p in a year to less than 40%, and the health and employment insurance coverage rates exceeded half.

What is unusual is that 66.6% of respondents said they chose non-regular workers for voluntary reasons, and 59.9% said they were satisfied with working conditions among voluntary reasons.

The National Statistical Office explained that young and old people tend to prefer to work at the time they want and as long as they want.

I'm YTN's Lee Seung Eun.


Video editing: Jung Kook-yoon
Design: Lee Na-eun