Average annual hours worked · South Korea

## What this measures

Average annual hours actually worked per person in employment in South Korea. The figure includes employees and self-employed workers and is compiled from national labour force surveys and accounts.

## Background

Total hours actually worked in the year divided by the average number of people in employment (employees and self-employed), from national labour force surveys and accounts, compiled by the OECD (dataflow DSD_HW@DF_AVG_ANN_HRS_WKD). Levels differ in method across countries, so compare each country's trend rather than levels between countries. Annual; synced monthly by /api/cron/worldbank-sync with a DBnomics mirror as fallback.

## Why it matters

Working hours reflect the intensity of labour input in an economy and signal structural shifts in work culture, policy and productivity. Sustained changes can affect labour costs, employee wellbeing and the capacity of domestic firms to compete. Organizations with operations or supply chains in South Korea use this to assess workforce norms and staffing requirements.

## How to read it

A rise means more hours worked per person on average; a fall means fewer. Because measurement methods differ across countries, compare trends within South Korea over time rather than levels between countries. The series is annual, so changes take at least a year to register.

## What it does not say

It does not distinguish between full-time and part-time workers, voluntary and involuntary overtime, or sectoral differences. It does not measure productivity, wages or the distribution of hours across the workforce.

## Source

OECD compiles the data from South Korean national labour force surveys and accounts. Palanor pulls OECD data through the OECD SDMX API under CC BY 4.0.