Working 3 jobs a week: More Koreans forced into multiple gigs
Workers sort parcels at the Seoul Complex Logistics Center in Songpa District, Seoul. Newsis
Working six nights a week from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. at a Coupang logistics center, Park Min-seung (alias), 54, returns home at 4:50 a.m., naps for about two hours, and heads out again by 7 a.m. to work at a grocery store until 10:30 a.m.
From 11 a.m., he starts his third job delivering packages door-to-door in a nearby apartment complex. His grueling schedule ends around 1 p.m. — when most people are just finishing lunch — and he snatches another few hours of rest before repeating the cycle.
Park, a father of two, works approximately 73 hours a week, a figure that doesn’t reflect the added burden of late-night shifts, which labor law calculates at 1.3 times normal hours for health risk purposes. “It was exhausting at first,” he said, “but now my body has adjusted.”
Despite his heavy workload, Park’s pay barely keeps up with inflation. His main job at Coupang is technically stable under a fixed-term contract, but the hourly wage increased by only 100 won (7 cents) this year, now just 40 won above the minimum wage.
"The price of bread and instant noodles has jumped, but wages barely move," he said. Still, he feels he has no choice. “I need to keep working multiple jobs to prepare for retirement,” he added, calling for an extension of the retirement age.
Members of the Rider Union hold signs reading “Riders and shop owners are dying, enact platform regulation laws” during a protest in front of the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, on Aug. 22, 2023. Korea Times photo by Shin Yong-joo
Platform profits soar, but riders’ pay sinks
As South Korea grapples with economic stagnation and soaring prices, the number of “N-jobbers” — people juggling multiple gigs — has hit an all-time high.
According to government data, the number reached 676,000 in the second quarter of last year. Though some are full-time workers seeking extra income, more are part-time or self-employed individuals turning to gig work to get by.
While major platforms report billions in revenue, delivery riders say their earnings are shrinking. Originally a butcher shop owner, Kim Gwang-yeon (alias), 55, began working as a delivery rider earlier this year as the repayment deadline for his COVID-19 small business loan approached.
“Now that I’ve become a rider, I realize how serious the platform commission issue is,” he said. “The platform takes a cut from both the restaurant and the rider. After deducting insurance and commissions, I only get about 2,500 won out of a 3,000-won delivery fee.”
Delivery app Baedal Minjok recently unified its previous pricing structure — 2,200 won for bundled deliveries and 3,000 won for single-location deliveries — into a flat rate of 2,500 won.
Riders are protesting the move, calling it a de facto pay cut. As platform and freelance workers fall outside the protection of labor laws, they are often powerless against such unilateral wage decisions by companies.
Another N-jobber, Kwon Soo-yong, 55, has been working three jobs for two years. Though he has worked as a private tutor for decades, his contractor status excludes him from minimum wage protections and social insurance.
He works seven days a week: a courier in the early morning, tutoring through the afternoon and evening and delivering food on weekends. With three children, including one preparing for college entrance exams, he says he’s struggling to keep his family afloat.
Delivery scooters are seen waiting near a traditional market in Seoul Monday. Yonhap
Legal protection and better compensation
Small business closures have surged as economic hardship deepens. According to Statistics Korea, the number of self-employed workers fell by 6,000 in April from a year earlier. Shutdown aid applications are near the annual quota of 30,000.
Experts say that government and companies must step up to protect gig workers and N-jobbers. Oh Min-kyu of the advocacy group Alliance of Korean Platform Workers argues for legally mandating paid leave and sick leave for platform and freelance workers.
He also called for expanding access to public insurance programs, noting that many workers must shoulder the full cost of health and pension contributions.
Ryu Hyun-cheol, director of the Center for Working Environment Health, said labor laws must broaden the definition of employers to include “entities receiving labor services,” enabling better health screening and protections.
He also stressed that platforms and client companies should contribute to funding health protections for workers tied to unstable or multiple jobs.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.