"Working During Chuseok Holidays"... Surge in Part-Time Job Listings for the Holiday Period

Short-Term Part-Time Job Demand Greatly Increases During Holidays

This year, the demand from self-employed individuals seeking short-term part-time jobs during the Chuseok holiday period has significantly increased. The number of part-time workers who prefer to spend their time working rather than visiting their hometowns during the holiday has also risen, making job platforms that connect these parties bustling with activity.

On the 12th, local community platform Danggeun analyzed the short-term part-time job postings on its own job platform 'Danggeun Alba' for the first week of September and revealed that 50% of the postings were looking for workers during the Chuseok holiday period. The proportion of job postings seeking workers for the holiday period was 38% during last Lunar New Year and 20% during last year’s Chuseok. This indicates a continuous increase in demand for part-time workers during holiday periods.

It was explained that there is particularly active connection between neighborhood stores urgently needing temporary help during the Chuseok holiday and job seekers looking for short-term gigs. Baek Byunghan, head of the Danggeun Alba team, said, "Ahead of the Chuseok holiday special demand, Danggeun Alba is becoming a good option for self-employed people who need to quickly find part-time workers and for those looking for short-term jobs near their homes during the holiday."

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Part-time workers also show a clear tendency to work rather than rest during the Chuseok holiday to earn even a little more money. A recent survey by Alba Cheonguk, a part-time job portal, of 1,338 part-time workers about their ‘Chuseok holiday work plans’ found that 78.0% planned to work part-time during the holiday. Among them, 10.4% said they would take a break from their regular jobs and seek new short-term part-time work, and 4.8% said they planned to continue their existing jobs while also taking on new short-term part-time jobs.

Additionally, among 2,181 individual members aged from teenagers to over 50 who are currently not working part-time, 41.5% said they plan to work part-time during the Chuseok holiday. The biggest reason for taking on short-term part-time jobs during Chuseok was ‘to earn pocket money through short-term work (53.9%, multiple responses allowed).’ The average desired hourly wage for Chuseok short-term part-time job seekers was recorded at 12,900 KRW.

The increase in both part-time job postings and job seekers during Chuseok can also be interpreted as the growing role of short-term part-time jobs in the job market. Since employers must provide weekly holiday allowances when hiring for more than 15 hours per week, which increases fixed costs, short-term part-time jobs typically refer to one-off jobs or part-time jobs that do not exceed 15 hours per week. According to the National Statistical Portal of Statistics Korea, as of August, the number of employed persons working 1 to 14 hours per week was 2,015,000. Compared to 1,588,000 in April, this is an increase of nearly 430,000 in four months. An industry insider said, "With recent high inflation and worsening labor shortages, self-employed people are looking for short-term part-time workers who impose less labor cost burden."