By Kim Se-jeong
Small business owners work 10.9 hours on average a day and have only three days off a month, a sign of a failed work-life balance, according to a recent study.
The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses released the survey results Monday after asking 700 small business owners about their work-life balance in November and December last year. The research team limited respondents to those who work in the manufacturing of car parts, wholesale, retail and restaurant sectors.
A small business is one with fewer than five employees.
The average monthly income per month for the owner was 3.54 million won. Men earned 3.91 million won, 770,000 won more than women. The age bracket with the highest income was between 40 and 49, earning 4.06 million won.
Average working hours differed from sector to sector.
Restaurant and retail business owners worked the longest hours, 11.4 and 11.1 per day respectively _ but they only earned 2.91 million won and 2.97 million won, respectively _ less than the average.
The average workload they carried was 65.6 points on a 100-point scale. Restaurant business owners carried the heaviest workload, with 70.7 points.
Asked to measure their work satisfaction, the respondents answered 51.6 points on average. With regard to their life satisfaction in general, they said 54.3 points. About their work-life balance, the majority answered this was somewhere around 50 points.
Some 51.7 percent said they had no time for themselves.
Those who answered yes said the average number of hours they spent on their hobbies was 5.9 hours per week, less than the national average of 29.7.
Asked what could improve their work-and-life balance, 36.4 said health and safety, 25 percent said family relationships, and 24 percent, an increase in income.
According to government statistics, small businesses accounted for almost 87 percent of all businesses in 2014, with more than six million people employed, accounting for 37.9 percent of the workforce.