Korean Office Workers Average 4.1 Days Off in Summer

The Chosun Ilbo recently conducted a pretty large poll and released a series of articles showing their findings.  The one I thought most interesting was that this summer...

Employees with mid-sized to large firms will take an average of 4.1 days of summer vacation this year, each spending W448,000 on average, according to a poll of 363 businesses employing 100 or more by the Korea Employers Federation (US$1=W1,209).

The summer vacations for large companies average 4.7 days and those for medium-sized firms 3.9 days, down 0.3 and 0.2 days from last year.

Some 65.9 percent of businesses offer paid vacations, up 2.3 points from last year. Vacation spending is up from last year's W36,000. Big corporations are to dole out on average W584,000 in vacation pay per worker, and medium-sized companies W409,000.

Some 94.2 percent of companies planned to give their staff a few days off. Smaller firms with 95.1 percent were slightly ahead of big firms' 91.5 percent. A KEF official said this is because some big businesses, having adopted the 40-hour- week, have instead abolished special summer vacations or replaced them with some other kind of leave.

I do not know how Koreans can do it.  I go to my corner grovery store (Mountain Mart) and the same woman is there seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, every day that I have observed so far.  That is not how anyone should live.  No point to living if you never get to enjoy yourself and pursue your own interests.  There might be a connection here with South Korea's astronomical suicide rate...
 
This reminds me of an Al Jazeera clip I watched a few months back.  It is almost comical when you hear stuff like "employees must be told how to take a vaction."