By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

Many tend to think that female workers would be more severely affected by the economic downturn than their male counterparts, with companies first targeting women for layoffs.

But this is not the case for the nation's non-permanent workforce this time around. In fact, more male temporary workers have lost their jobs since Korea was hit hard by the global credit crunch last September and the following economic slump.

Also, the number of non-regular workers with high school diplomas or lower declined over the past year, with the portion of university graduates employed on a temporary basis increasing.

According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) Thursday, non-regular salaried employees totaled 5.38 million across the country in March, down 264,000 from a year earlier. By gender, the number of male temporary workers dropped by 217,000 to 2.63 million, while that of female employees fell by a mere 47,000 to 2.75 million.

An NSO official said men are usually engaged in construction and other industries sensitive to changes in economic conditions. ``But women tend to work in social welfare, health care, education and insurance sales sectors that are largely tolerant to economic cycles. It explains why male non-regular workers are struggling more than their female counterparts.''

Non-permanent workers with high school diplomas totaled 2.33 million in March, down 196,000 from the previous year, with those studying only up to middle and elementary school falling by 67,000 and 10,000, respectively. But the number of temporary workers with university degrees or above increased by 9,000 to 1.64 million.

The NSO official said a rise in highly-educated part-time employees was attributed to various internship programs introduced by state agencies and large businesses to ease the youth unemployment problem.

By age, the number of non-regular workers in their 30s plunged 111,000 to 1.2 million in March year-on-year, while 20-somethings and 40-somethings fell 86,000 and 84,000, respectively. But those in their 50s and 60s jumped 15,000 and 21,000.

Analysts say that non-permanent workers will continue to be hit harder than regular employees because it is easier for businesses to lay them off when the economy turns bad. Additionally, the law governing the status of non-regular workers has encouraged more companies to fire them.

Under the law revised in August 2007, employers are required to turn non-permanent workers into regular staff after two years of employment, prompting the dismissal of temporary employees before the two-year stage as companies find it costly to upgrade their status. There are an estimated 970,000 workers whose two-year hiring period ends this month.

To avert the massive layoff of non-regular workers, political parties tried to reach a consensus on the revision of the law. But lawmakers failed to come to an agreement by June 30, signaling a possible full-scale dismissal of temporary employees.

The governing Grand National Party came up with a measure to extend the current law for two more years, while the main opposition Democratic Party and the Liberty Forward Party wanted to postpone it by one year, and one-and-a-half years, respectively.

Labor experts are warning that the non-regular worker issue has incurred huge social costs and destabilized the foundation of Korean society.

``The unstable status of temporary workers and their lower wages, compared to regular ones, have and will result in greater social conflicts between the haves and have-nots. It is also negatively affecting domestic consumption and other economic activities of households,'' Korea Labor Institute director Nam Jae-ryang said.

Nam suggested the National Assembly reach an agreement on how to improve the status of temporary employees as soon as possible, stressing companies should find other ways to cut costs, and keep as many workers on their payrolls as possible.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr