Effects of a national work hours restriction in a high hours country

	Before		After
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
A. Outcome variables for full-time workers
Actual hours worked	46.971	8.134	45.188	7.056
Usual hours worked^*	43.450	6.401	43.246	5.857
Monthly earnings (10,000 Won)^*	329.171	153.306	353.503	169.142
Hourly wages (10,000 Won)^*	1.783	0.906	1.909	0.981
B. Outcome variables for workers working >52 h/week
Actual hours worked	60.345	6.612	59.814	6.284
Usual hours worked^*	59.894	5.627	59.436	5.453
Monthly earnings (10,000 Won)^*	272.004	111.977	307.123	128.292
Hourly wages (10,000 Won)^*	1.050	0.446	1.186	0.499
C. Demographic characteristics
Age	40.050	8.358	40.149	8.393
Marital status
Single	0.283	0.450	0.313	0.464
Married	0.683	0.465	0.655	0.476
Widowed	0.004	0.062	0.004	0.059
Divorced	0.030	0.171	0.029	0.167
D. Job characteristics
Fixed-term contract	0.100	0.300	0.107	0.310
Status in employment
Regular workers	0.844	0.363	0.859	0.348
Temporary workers	0.089	0.284	0.079	0.269
Daily hired workers	0.038	0.194	0.034	0.180
Self-employed with employees	0.029	0.169	0.028	0.166
Self-employed without employees	0.000	0.004	0.000	0.002
Unpaid family workers	0.000	0.015	0.000	0.020
Establishment size
5–9 employees	0.187	0.390	0.183	0.386
10–29 employees	0.246	0.430	0.249	0.433
30–99 employees	0.221	0.415	0.216	0.411
100–299 employees	0.137	0.343	0.137	0.344
300+ employees	0.211	0.408	0.215	0.411
E. Additional job characteristics^*
Special type of employment	0.012	0.107	0.010	0.097
Flexible work hours	0.064	0.245	0.152	0.359
Employer-sponsored pension	0.897	0.304	0.913	0.282
Employer-sponsored health care	0.900	0.300	0.914	0.280
Employment insurance	0.794	0.404	0.842	0.365
Severance pay	0.890	0.313	0.906	0.292
Bonus	0.873	0.332	0.859	0.348
Overtime pay	0.670	0.470	0.669	0.471
Paid vacation	0.810	0.393	0.827	0.378
Training	0.681	0.466	0.675	0.468
Salary form
Monthly	0.593	0.491	0.580	0.494
Annually	0.303	0.459	0.320	0.467
Others	0.104	0.305	0.100	0.300
Union
No union	0.656	0.475	0.660	0.474
Not eligible for union	0.076	0.265	0.077	0.266
Eligible but did not join union	0.078	0.268	0.082	0.275
Union member	0.190	0.392	0.181	0.385
Observations for all male full-time workers	174,870		113,651
Observations for male workers working >52 h/week	34,322		14,212
Observations for all male full-time workers^*	20,699		13,103
Observations for male workers working >52 h/week^*	1,914		901

Notes:

* These variables are drawn from the August surveys.

Sources: The EAP Survey.

EAP, economically active population.

Trends in actual hours worked.
*Notes*: The new work hour restriction was passed on February 28, 2018 and first implemented on July 1, 2018. (A) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who worked more than 34 h in the reference week in industries where the new restriction was enforced in all subsectors in July 2018. (B) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who worked more than 34 h in the reference week in industries either where the new work hour restriction was enforced in July 2019 or where it was enforced in some subsectors in July 2018 and in the other subsectors in July 2019. (C) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who worked more than 34 h in the reference week in industries where the new restriction was enforced in some subsectors in July 2019 but it would not be compulsory in the other subsectors due to the legal position of *special case*.

Table 2

Summary statistics for policy intensity

Min	1st Quartile	2nd Quartile	3rd Quartile	Max	Mean	SD
0.009	0.135	0.192	0.241	0.862	0.200	0.099
Proportion of workers working >52 h				19.63%
Observations				174,870

[i] Sources: The EAP Survey.

[ii] EAP, economically active population.

Table 3

Individual-level estimation results

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
	Actual hours	Usual hours	Log monthly earnings	Log hourly wages	Usual hours	Log monthly earnings	Log hourly wages
Treatment effect	−4.242^*** (1.233)	−4.334^*** (0.987)	0.068 (0.054)	0.142^** (0.061)	−4.566^*** (0.973)	0.085^* (0.050)	0.169^*** (0.054)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Additional controls					X	X	X
Observations	288,521	33,802	33,802	33,802	33,024	33,024	33,024
R-squared	0.115	0.147	0.495	0.500	0.160	0.525	0.541

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses are clustered at the industry-occupation-education group level. Estimation for actual hours uses monthly data while estimation for the other outcome variables uses annual data. Basic controls include age, age squared and dummy variables for marital status, fixed-term contract, status in employment, and establishment size. Additional controls include dummy variables for all the additional job characteristics described in Table 1.

*** p < 0.01,

** p < 0.05,

* p < 0.1.

Table 4

Group-level estimation results

	A. All Workers
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Log total work hours	Log total employment	Log total worker pay	Log total worker pay
Treatment effect	−0.143 (0.107)	−0.083 (0.110)	−0.135 (0.261)	−0.137 (0.249)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X
Additional controls				X
R-squared	0.187	0.077	0.267	0.320

	B. Full-time Workers
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Log total work hours	Log total employment	Log total worker pay	Log total worker pay
Treatment effect	−0.151 (0.111)	−0.077 (0.116)	−0.203 (0.267)	−0.185 (0.279)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X
Additional controls				X
R-squared	0.411	0.370	0.248	0.292
Number of groups	119	119	115	115
Observations	5,236	5,236	575	575

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses are clustered at the industry-occupation-education group level. Estimation for total work hours and total employment uses monthly data while estimation total worker pay uses annual data. Basic controls include the average age, the average age squared and dummy variables for marital status, fixed-term contract, status in employment, and establishment size. Additional controls include dummy variables for all the additional job characteristics described in Table 1.

*** p < 0.01,

** p < 0.05,

* p < 0.1.

Individual-level event-study estimates.
*Notes*: The new work hour restriction was passed on February 28, 2018 and was first implemented on July 1, 2018. (A) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who worked more than 34 h in the reference week, in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (B) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who usually worked more than 34 h/week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (C) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who usually worked more than 34 h/week as salaried or hourly employees in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (D) Male workers between the ages of 25 and 55, who usually worked more than 34 h/week as salaried or hourly employees in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction.

Group-level event-study estimates.
*Notes*: The new work hour restriction was passed on February 28, 2018 and was first implemented on July 1, 2018. (A) Total work hours are the sum of actual hours worked of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who worked at least an hour in the reference week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (B) Total work hours are the sum of actual hours worked of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who worked more than 34 h in the reference week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (C) Total employment is the number of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who worked at least an hour in the reference week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (D) Total employment is the number of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who worked more than 34 h in the reference week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (E) Total worker pay is the sum of monthly earnings of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who usually worked at least an hour per week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction. (F) Total worker pay is the sum of monthly earnings of all male workers between the ages of 25 and 55 who usually worked more than 34 h/week in all industries and establishment sizes subject to the new restriction.

Table 5

Pre-trend tests for individual-level outcomes

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
	Actual hours	Usual hours	Log monthly earnings	Log hourly wages	Usual hours	Log monthly earnings	Log hourly wages
Treatment effect	−1.092 (0.985)	−0.588 (1.742)	0.038 (0.484)	0.044 (0.061)	−0.513 (1.726)	0.038 (0.470)	0.045 (0.596)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Additional controls					X	X	X
Observations	146,583	20,699	20,699	20,699	20,699	20,699	20,699
R-squared	0.105	0.159	0.506	0.512	0.174	0.542	0.557

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses are clustered at the industry-occupation-education group level. Estimation for actual hours uses monthly data while estimation for the other outcome variables uses annual data. Pre-trend tests re-estimate Eqs (1) and (2) with the monthly data restricted to January 2016 to February 2017 and the annual data restricted to August 2015 to August 2017. Post_mt is defined as 0 from January 2016 to February 2017 (from August 2015 to August 2016), and 1 from July 2017 to February 2018 (August 2017). Basic controls include age, age squared and dummy variables for marital status, fixed-term contract, status in employment, and establishment size. Additional controls include dummy variables for all the additional job characteristics described in Table 1.

*** p < 0.01,

** p < 0.05,

* p < 0.1.

Table 6

Pre-trend tests for group-level outcomes

	A. All workers
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Log total work hours	Log total employment	Log total worker pay	Log total worker pay
Treatment effect	0.006 (0.100)	0.054 (0.099)	−0.026 0.275	0.064 (0.231)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X
Additional controls				X
R-squared	0.183	0.081	0.306	0.448

	B. Full-time workers
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Log total work hours	Log total employment	Log total worker pay	Log total worker pay
Treatment effect	0.032 (0.099)	0.060 (0.095)	0.001 (0.289)	0.074 (0.250)
Basic controls	X	X	X	X
Additional controls				X
R-squared	0.458	0.425	0.280	0.438
Number of groups	119	119	115	115
Observations	2,618	2,618	345	575

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses are clustered at the industry-occupation-education group level. Estimation for total work hours and total employment uses monthly data while estimation total worker pay uses annual data. Pre-trend tests re-estimate the Eq. (3) with the monthly data restricted to January 2016 to February 2017 and the annual data restricted to August 2015 to August 2017. Post_mt is defined as 0 from January 2016 to February 2017 (August 2015 to August 2016), and 1 from July 2017 to February 2018 (August 2017). Basic controls include the average age, the average age squared and dummy variables for marital status, fixed-term contract, status in employment, and establishment size. Additional controls include dummy variables for all the additional job characteristics described in Table 1.

*** p < 0.01,

** p < 0.05,

* p < 0.1.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/izajolp-2022-0006 | Journal eISSN: 2193-9004

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Language: English

Accepted on: Jul 7, 2022

Published on: Sep 13, 2022