Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Seung-Gwon Park

2 Articles

Statement by the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the proposed reform of working hours in South Korea: Hee-Tae Kang, Chul-Ju Kim, Dong-Wook Lee, Seung-Gwon Park, Jinwoo Lee, Kanwoo Youn, Hwan-Cheol Kim, Kyoung Sook Jeong, Hansoo Song, Sung-Kyung Kim, Sang-Baek Koh; Ann Occup Environ Med 2023;35:e17. Published online July 5, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/aoem.2023.35.e17

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The current 52-hour workweek in South Korea consists of 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime. Although the average working hours in South Korea is declining, it is still 199 hours longer than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1,716 hours per year. In view to this, the South Korean government has now proposed to reform the workweek, mainly intending to increase the workweek to 69 hours when the workload is heavy. This reform, by increasing the labor intensity due to long working hours, goes against the global trend of reducing work hours for a safe and healthy working environment. Long working hours can lead to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, industrial accidents, mental health problems, and safety accidents due to lack of concentration. In conclusion, the Korean government’s working hour reform plan can have a negative impact on workers’ health, and therefore it should be thoroughly reviewed and modified.

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Association between long working hours and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease: a nationwide population-based study in Korea
S.-U. Baek, J.-U. Won, Y.-M. Lee, J.-H. Yoon
Public Health.2024; 232: 188. CrossRef
Association between long working hours and engagement in preventive healthcare services in Korean workers: Findings from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Seong-Uk Baek, Yu-Min Lee, Jin-Ha Yoon
Preventive Medicine.2024; 180: 107849. CrossRef
Long working hours, work-life imbalance, and poor mental health: a cross-sectional mediation analysis based on the sixth Korean Working Conditions Survey, 2020–2021
Seong-Uk Baek, Yu-Min Lee, Jin-Ha Yoon, Jong-Uk Won
Journal of Epidemiology.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Association between long working hours and the onset of problematic alcohol use in young workers: A population-based longitudinal analysis in South Korea
Seong-Uk Baek, Jong-Uk Won, Jin-Ha Yoon
Journal of Affective Disorders.2024; 344: 141. CrossRef
Changes in Korea’s working time policy: the need for research on flexible working hours considering socioeconomic inequality
Inah KIM
Industrial Health.2024; 62(2): 77. CrossRef
Effect of long working hours on psychological distress among young workers in different types of occupation
Seong-Uk Baek, Jin-Ha Yoon
Preventive Medicine.2024; 179: 107829. CrossRef
Association between long working hours and the development of suicidal ideation among female workers: An 8-year population-based study using the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women & Family (2012–2020)
Seong-Uk Baek, Yu-Min Lee, Jin-Ha Yoon
Psychiatry Research.2024; 333: 115731. CrossRef
Special Series I: Working hours as a social determinant of workers’ health
Kyunghee Jung-Choi, Tae-Won Jang, Mo-Yeol Kang, Jungwon Kim, Eun-A Kim
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2023;[Epub] CrossRef
Association between long working hours and cigarette smoking, leisure-time physical activity, and risky alcohol use: Findings from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014–2021)
Seong-Uk Baek, Jin-Ha Yoon
Preventive Medicine.2023; 175: 107691. CrossRef

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Association between long working hours and serum gamma-glutamyltransferase levels in female workers: data from the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2011): Seung-Gwon Park, Yong-Jin Lee, Jung-Oh Ham, Eun-Chul Jang, Seong-Woo Kim, Hyun Park; Ann Occup Environ Med 2014;26:40. Published online December 1, 2014; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-014-0040-1

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Objectives

The present study investigated the association between long working hours and serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels, a factor influencing the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Methods

Data from the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2011) were used to analyze 1,809 women. Subjects were divided into three groups based on the number of weekly working hours: ≤29, 30–51, and ≥52 hours per week. Complex samples logistic regression was performed after adjusting for general and occupational factors to determine the association between long working hours and high serum GGT levels.

Results

The prevalence of high serum GGT levels in groups with ≤29, 30–51, and ≥52 working hours per week was 22.0%, 16.9%, and 26.6%, respectively. Even after adjusting for general and occupational factors, those working 30–51 hours per week had the lowest prevalence of high serum GGT levels. Compared to those working 30–51 hours per week, the odds ratios (OR) of having high serum GGT levels in the groups with ≥52 and ≤29 working hours per week were 1.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10–2.23) and 1.53 (95% CI, 1.05–2.24), respectively.

Conclusions

Long working hours were significantly associated with high serum GGT levels in Korean women.

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Multi-ancestry sleep-by-SNP interaction analysis in 126,926 individuals reveals lipid loci stratified by sleep duration
Raymond Noordam, Maxime M. Bos, Heming Wang, Thomas W. Winkler, Amy R. Bentley, Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen, Paul S. de Vries, Yun Ju Sung, Karen Schwander, Brian E. Cade, Alisa Manning, Hugues Aschard, Michael R. Brown, Han Chen, Nora Franceschini, Solomon K.
Nature Communications.2019;[Epub] CrossRef
The association between long working hours and marital status change: middle-aged and educated Korean in 2014–2015
Hyunil Kim, Byung-Seong Suh, Won-Cheol Lee, Han-Seur Jeong, Kyung-Hun Son, Min-Woo Nam, Hyeong-Cheol Kim
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2019;[Epub] CrossRef

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