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Plan to expand substitute holiday system gaining traction
Ruling and opposition parties are working to pass a bill to expand the substitute holiday system, with expectations that the expansion could contribute to economic revitalization. gettyimagesbank
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The National Assembly is moving fast to pass a bill to expand the substitute holiday system that would provide extra days off if public holidays fall on a weekend.
Currently, the country's substitute holiday system guarantees an extra day off only when the two biggest holidays of Seollal and Chuseok ― Lunar New Year and Korean Thanksgiving ― fall on Sundays, or Children's Day falls on a weekend.
Assembly officials said Sunday that a bill aimed at expanding the system could be passed at the Assembly this month at the earliest as ruling and opposition parties have reached a broad consensus on the issue.
Lawmakers expect the expansion to help economic recovery at a time when the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has slowed economic activities.
The move is also in response to growing calls from workers to expand substitute holidays as public holidays in the latter half of this year, such as Memorial Day on June 6, Liberation Day on Aug. 15, National Foundation Day on Oct. 3 and Christmas on Dec. 25, fall on either Saturdays or Sundays.
The number of holidays including Sundays and public holidays here in 2018 stood at 69, but was reduced to 64 this year.
Things will be similar next year as six out of 15 public holidays fall on a weekend.
Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who heads the Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, said, “We are actively considering passing the bill to expand the substitute holiday system as it is expected to contribute to economic revitalization amid many difficulties in the pandemic era.”
Officials said there has been no disagreement between the ruling party and the main opposition People Power Party on the need to expand the system.
Several bills regarding the expansion have already been submitted to the Assembly, including one by Rep. Kang Byung-won from the ruling party. Kang's bill calls for providing an extra day off to workers for every public holiday that falls on a weekend.
Discussions on whether to introduce more substitute holidays have continued here for over a decade, considering that South Korean workers work far longer hours than people in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.
According to OECD statistics, South Korea ranked second after Mexico in terms of annual working hours per employee ― a Korean worked 1,967 hours a year as of 2019, 241 hours more than the OECD average of 1,726 hours. Mexicans worked 2,137 hours.
But it remains to be seen how many more substitute holidays will be provided as businesses are expressing opposition based on concerns that granting more holidays could result in a drop in productivity and an increase in expenses.