86% of Night Workers: "Want to Maintain or Increase Night Work"

Korean Corporate Management Association study finds
Freight and parcel delivery workers expect night work restrictions to cut their income
"By at least 1 million won a month"

A survey has found that most people who work at night want to maintain their current schedules, while some would like to work more nights. They said that if their night work were reduced, their income would fall, so they would take on a second job or additional work.

According to a study titled "A Comparison of Work Environments by Occupation Among Labor Service Providers and Night Workers, and Policy Recommendations," released by the Korean Corporate Management Association, 94.4% of night workers said they had chosen to work at night voluntarily. The survey, conducted by a research team led by Professor Hong Woonki of Konkuk University, covered 940 night workers in retail, manufacturing, freight transport, logistics centers, security, tourism, and other sectors.

Yonhap News

Of the respondents, 86.5% wanted to work at least as many nights as they do now. A total of 74.8% wanted to maintain their current number of night shifts, while 11.7% wanted to increase it.

By contrast, only 13.5% said they wanted to work fewer nights. The most common reason for choosing night work was "higher pay" (48.8%), followed by "covering living expenses and earning the income they need" (25.9%) and "not earning enough from daytime work alone" (6.9%).

Among those who wanted to maintain their current number of night shifts, 70.8% cited "maintaining their income" as the reason. Of those who wanted to work more nights, 82.7% cited "the need for additional income." The researchers said this shows that for many night workers, night work is not simply a matter of working hours but a choice directly tied to income and making ends meet.

Politicians have recently been pursuing measures to limit the hours and frequency of night work, including early-morning delivery shifts. The stated goal is to prevent deaths from overwork caused by long hours of night work. However, the researchers pointed out that limits on the number of shifts could lead to lower incomes and additional work for workers.

Concerns about income losses resulting from limits on night work varied by industry. Among freight transport and parcel delivery workers, 59.8% expected their monthly income to fall by at least 1 million won if night work were restricted.

Among night workers, 76.4% said they would take a second job or additional work if their income fell. The researchers said that even if the number of night shifts were limited by law, workers might seek other jobs to make ends meet, potentially increasing their total working hours instead.

Yoon Dongyeol, a professor at Konkuk University and president of the Korean Corporate Management Association, said, "This study has shed light on the reality of workers who are concerned that uniform limits on working hours could reduce their income and push them to take second jobs." He added, "Since limits on working hours mean lower incomes for most night workers, we need to establish a proactive health management system that guarantees breaks and rest and expands health checkups."

Separately, a survey conducted by the association of 2,938 labor service providers across 17 occupations found that social insurance support policies should also take account of the conditions in each occupation and workers' actual needs.

Simultaneous enrollment in employment and workers' compensation insurance was relatively high among workers in information and communications software (81%) and parcel delivery (78%). Parcel delivery workers (51%) and door-to-door sales workers (50%) were the least likely to say that paying social insurance premiums placed a financial burden on them. The researchers said, "When improving programs such as social insurance premium support, tailored assistance should focus on vulnerable occupations such as truck owners, home appliance delivery and installation workers, and school bus drivers, rather than on occupations with relatively favorable incomes and working conditions, such as parcel delivery and information and communications software."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.