South Korea was the only country where people worked an average of more than 2,000 hours annually in 2007, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and OECD. The average annual wage of Koreans stood at about 60 per cent of the OECD average in 2006.

Korea's average annual hours of work per person were 2,261 in 2007. This was 200 to 900 hours more than its OECD counterparts. Koreans' working hours have declined over the past two decades; they were 2,294 in 2006, 2,341 in 2005, 2,366 in 2004, 2,378 in 2003, 2,453 in 1994 and 2,714 in 1983.

Countries which had less than 1,500 working hours in 2007 were Germany (1,353), France (1,457), Belgium (1,461) and Austria (1,474). Those in the 1,500 and 1,800 bracket were Luxemburg (1,541), Spain (1,621), the United Kingdom (1,655), Portugal (1,675), Canada (1,733), Hungary (1,780), Greece (1,783) and the United States (1,798).

Those with more than 1,800 annual working hours were Japan (1,808), Iceland (1,822), Czech Republic (1,914), Slovakia (1,947) and Poland (1,953).

Meanwhile, the average Korean employed full-time earned US$25,379 in 2006, 64 per cent of the OECD average of $39,743.

Switzerland was the only nation whose average annual wage topped $60,000 that year. Countries with more than $50,000 in annual wage were Luxemburg ($59,638), Norway ($56,629), Denmark ($56,598) and Ireland ($55,985).

Those with more than $40,000 in annual salary were the United States ($47,688), the United Kingdom ($47,248), Belgium ($45,401), Netherlands ($45,337) and Sweden ($40,086).

Employees in Finland, France, Germany, Japan and Italy earned between $30,000 and $40,000 on average in 2006.

This article appeared on www.koreaherald.co.kr

July 23, 2008

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