Irregular Workers Employed Less than 18 Hours a Week on the Rise

“Irregular workers,” practically equivalent to the unemployed despite having a job, are on the rise as there is less work available due to the economic stagnation.

According to the Department of Statistics on May 20, the number of “additional employment seekers” who work less than 18 hours per week and want a regular job was estimated as 130,000, showing an increase of 47.4 percent (42,000 individuals) compared to the figure of 88,000 from April of last year, only a year earlier.

Additional employment seekers declined from 127,000 in April 2001 to 105,000 in April 2002, but returned on the rise in April this year.

Breaking down by quarters, the number of additional employment seekers reached a monthly average of 105,000 during the third quarter (July-September) last year, showing a four percent increase compared to the previous quarters, and increased even more in the fourth quarter (October-December) to 112,000 and to 129,700 in the first quarter (January-March) this year.

The total number of employed workers working less than 18 hours per week declined somewhat, from 694,000 in the third quarter last year to 672,000 in the fourth quarter, however during the first quarter this year, it jumped to 777,000.

The rate of additional employment seekers among the employed workers working less than 18 hours per week was 19.8 percent for April this year, showing an increase of 3.4 percent compared to 16.4 percent in the same month last year. Unemployment rate during the same period went up 0.1 percent point from 3.3 percent to 3.4 percent.

Secretary Choi Yeon-ok of the Social Statistics Division at the Department of Statistics stated, “Not being able to work more than 18 hours per week due to a shortage of work happens prior to becoming an irregular worker” and added, “The fact that additional employment seekers are increasing indicates that the quality of employment has worsened.”

Chi-Young Shin higgledy@donga.com