韩国缩短法定工作时间 穷人却活得更辛苦 Life without evenings: the people left behind by South Korea's war on overwork

韩国人素来有“加班文化”，为了提高生育率和生产效率，韩国上月初颁布新法案，将法定最长工作时间从68小时缩短至52小时。结果，公务员们倒是开心和轻松了，体力劳动者和临时工们却叫苦连天。这是为什么呢？我们来看英国《卫报》的报道。

Kim Jeong-cheol wakes up every morning at 6 am to deliver packages to Seoul’s wealthier residents, and spends every night ferrying those same people home after a night out, ending his working day well past midnight. He also works at a cosmetics distribution company he runs from his home with his wife.

金正哲每天早上6点起床给首尔市内更富有的居民送包裹，每天夜里还要开车送晚上外出的这些人回家，等到收工时已经过了午夜了。他还和妻子在家合开了一家化妆品分销公司。

Kim is one of many in South Korea’s capital to have taken on extra jobs as part of the unintended consequence of a law aimed at capping working hours and giving people more free time.

金正哲不过是首尔干副业的众多市民之一。此前韩国的新法案缩短了法定工作时间，本意是让人们拥有更多自由时间，却出现了这种意想不到的结果。

On 1 July South Korea cut the maximum weekly work hours to 52, down from 68. But the new regulation intended to combat long hours in Seoul’s steel and glass office towers has backfired for many doing manual or irregular labour, with people flocking to poorly regulated industries and facing pay cuts.

7月1日起，韩国将每周最长工作时间由原来的68小时缩短至52小时。新规原本是为了解决首尔职员办公时间过长的问题，然而许多体力劳动者和临时工却反受其害。他们大量涌向监管不力的产业，并面临降薪。

Kim added his delivery job – for South Korea’s national post – after the new law meant more office workers went home early, reducing the number of driving jobs at night. Kim, who has three daughters to support through university, now works about 19 hours a day.

金正哲干起了国家邮政快递的副业是因为新法案的发布意味着更多白领下班时间提早，晚上开出租车能拉到的客人也少了。金正哲有三个女儿在上大学，为了赚学费，他每天要工作19个小时左右。

Kim, whose income dropped 40% after the law came in, is not alone. A woman who would give only her surname, Park, began working in a convenience store after she lost about 500,000 won ($445) a month due to the cap on working hours. A builder  took a second job working as a type of unofficial bus service when hours were cut to comply with the law.

在新法案实施后，金正哲的收入下降了40%，他不是唯一一个因此而收入下降的人。一位只愿透露姓氏的朴女士在限制工作时间后每月收入损失了约50万韩元（3045元人民币），只好又在便利店打了一份工。一位建筑工人在依照法律缩短了工作时间后也干起了副业，给私人开巴士。

The National Assembly estimated that 150,000 labourers would face an average pay cut of 410,000 won a month when the law was passed due to working less overtime. About a third of South Korea’s labour force works in jobs with irregular hours, such as construction, driving, cleaning or convenience store clerks, according to government statistics.

韩国国民大会估计，在法案通过后，因为加班时间缩短，15万工人平均每月收入将减少41万韩元。根据政府数据，韩国约三分之一的体力劳动者，比如建筑工人、司机、清洁工和便利店店员，工作时间都不规律。

In the 1960s, the nation’s economy expanded rapidly, turning a country still reeling from the 1950-53 Korean war into the 12th largest economy in a generation. It has produced national champions like Samsung, Hyundai and LG, massive conglomerates that wield significant political influence, but that achievement has come at the expense of leisure time.

20世纪60年代，韩国经济快速扩张，才经历了一代人，就将遭受朝鲜战争（1950-1953）重创的韩国发展为世界第12大经济体。韩国诞生了三星、现代和LG等国家知名企业，这些大企业集团发挥着重要的政治影响力，但是这一成就是用韩国人的空闲时间换来的。

South Korean workers have some of the longest working weeks among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind only Mexico. Last year the average person worked 2,024 hours, or about 38.9 hours a week. 

在经济合作和发展组织成员国中，韩国的工人是每周工作时间最长的，仅次于墨西哥人。去年韩国人平均工作了2024个小时，每周工作时间约为38.9个小时。

This gruelling work environment has been blamed for a host of societal problems, from a low birth rate to plummeting productivity. Chung Hyun-back, the family and gender equality minister, has called working hours “inhumanely long” and said they have contributed to the South Korea’s rapidly ageing society.

从低生育率到生产率下降，众多社会问题都被归咎于韩国严苛的工作环境。韩国女性家族部部长郑铉栢声称韩国工作时间“太长，非常不人道”，并表示工作时间过长导致了韩国社会的快速老龄化。

There is a strong case for tackling the culture of long hours. Working more than 50 hours a week causes a drop in productivity, according to researchers at Stanford University, and there was little different in output for employees who worked between 56 and 70 hours.

关于对抗韩国长时间的工作文化，还有一条强有力的论据。斯坦福大学的研究人员称，每周工作时间超过50个小时会导致生产效率下降，每周工作时间56个小时和70个小时的员工产出并没有多少差别。

Despite hardships faced by workers paid by the hour, office workers have rejoiced at the new law. Some have long complained of a culture that expected employees to stay late despite a lack of work. Others say bosses would routinely assign extra tasks outside normal hours, leading many employees to procrastinate all day since they knew they had to stay late regardless of workload.

尽管小时工们面临经济困境，办公室职员们却为新法案而感到欣喜。有些职员长期抱怨韩国的工作文化，让员工无事可干还不得不在办公室留到很晚。其他一些职员则声称领导一般都会在正常工作时间之外给员工分派额外的任务，让许多员工滞留在办公室一整天，因为他们知道不管工作做完了没有，他们都得留到很晚。

But working-class people have largely mocked the new law for forcing them to take second or third jobs, saying: “Instead of a life with dinner, there’s a new life where you have to skip dinner.”

但是大多数工人们都会嘲讽新法案害他们不得不干副业，并声称：“过去的日子有饭吃，现在的日子没饭吃。”

About 20,000 people have flocked to become on-demand chauffeurs since the new law passed, according to Kim Jong-yong, head of the Korean Association of Relief Drivers. Companies have lowered fares amid the influx of new workers.

韩国救援驾驶员协会会长金钟龙说，自从新法案通过后，约有2万人去做了约车司机。由于新员工大量涌入，公司纷纷降低了出车费。

"The 52-hour law was meant to benefit all workers, however it’s only positively affecting people working in stable, high-paying jobs such as civil servants and people working in corporate companies,” he said. “Taking a second job is the only thing keeping these people off the streets, it’s a last resort.

金钟龙说：“52小时工作制本意是为了造福所有员工，然而却只造福了那些在稳定高薪岗位上工作的人，比如公务员，还有那些在大企业工作的人。对于底层民众而言，干副业是唯一不让自己流落街头的选择。”

"Their struggles are a reflection of how Korean society treats and values working-class people.”

“他们的挣扎反映了韩国社会是如何对待和看待工人的。”

英文来源：卫报

翻译&编辑：丹妮