South Korea’s long working hours are often treated as a cultural cliché, but the numbers show a more structural story — one that continues to shape the country’s economic trajectory and regional competitiveness. 

According to the OECD’s Average annual hours actually worked per worker dataset, South Korean employees worked 2,163 hours in 2010, compared to an OECD average of 1,772 hours. The gap has narrowed but remains pronounced: in 2024, Koreans worked 1,865 hours, while the OECD average stood at 1,736. More than a decade later, the gap has narrowed but not disappeared. In 2024, South Korea recorded 1,865 hours, while the OECD average stood at 1,736. This enduring disparity — still one of the widest in the industrialized world — illustrates how labor-time intensity has become a built-in component of Korea’s political economy.

This persistence signals that Korea’s labor-time intensity is not a temporary feature but a structural element of its political economy. Long hours have historically sustained the country’s export-driven growth model, but they also mask deep productivity weaknesses. Korea relies more heavily on labor-time inputs than the typical advanced economy, yet its GDP per hour worked remains well below leading OECD performers, according to the OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators. South Korea’s output per hour lags even as labor input remains elevated. This mismatch forms the core of Korea’s productivity paradox: the system compensates for limited........

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