[Editorial] The employment divide

A labor market can add jobs while closing off the kind of work that allows people to build secure lives. South Korea illustrates this paradox. Of the 113,000 additional wage earners recorded over the past year, 91.2 percent entered non-regular positions.

In August, non-regular workers numbered a record 8.67 million, up 103,000 from a year earlier. They accounted for 38.5 percent of all wage earners, the highest share since the current statistical method began in 2003, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Non-regular workers, many in part-time or temporary roles, earned an average of 2.11 million won ($1,589) a month from June through August, compared with 4.05 million won for regular employees. The resulting monthly pay gap of 1.94 million won was also a record.

These figures describe a labor market expanding at its margins while offering too few paths into its protected core. The wage gap, however, needs careful interpretation. Monthly earnings do not account for differences in hours worked, and part-time roles make up a growing share of non-regular employment.

Excluding part-time workers narrows the gap to 954,000 won. Even on this basis, a substantial disparity remains, pointing to disadvantages beyond shorter working hours.

The shift also reflects Korea’s aging population. The number of non-regular workers aged 60 and older rose by 135,000, exceeding the overall increase of 103,000 as numbers fell in other age groups.

Many work in health and social welfare, where non-regular employment grew by 112,000 over the year. Such jobs provide income and meet genuine care needs, but their expansion cannot compensate for a labor market in which younger workers struggle to establish lasting careers.

The consequences can persist long after a first job ends. A study tracking 2,000 people born from 1989 to 1998 found that those who began in regular employment spent an average of eight years and three months in regular, full-time work over the following decade.

Those who started in non-regular jobs accumulated just three years and two months. The difference in time spent unemployed was also two years. An insecure start can shape a working life for years to come.

Employers have their own reasons to favor flexibility. At Korea’s five major banks, regular staffing fell by 4,080 between the end of 2022 and July 2026, while the non-regular headcount rose by 1,048. Digitization and branch closures have reduced demand for some conventional roles, giving banks further incentives to contain labor costs.

Yet replacing experienced employees with a shifting pool of contractors can weaken institutional memory and make oversight harder. Payroll savings can come at the cost of service quality and internal controls.

The government plans to publish a roadmap by year-end for equal pay for work of equal value. Beginning in 2027, it also plans to pay a “fairness allowance” to short-term public-sector contract workers upon departure.

The aim of closing unjustified pay gaps is laudable. But a mandate alone cannot erase the incentives created by a system in which dismissal is difficult and wages often rise automatically with seniority. Employers may respond by slowing recruitment or outsourcing more work.

Younger workers could end up bearing the cost of reforms intended to help them. Pay should reflect the work performed rather than years spent in a post, with employers given reasonable room to reorganize and workers protected by portable social benefits when jobs end.

A labor market that protects those already inside while restricting entry for everyone else will struggle to turn economic growth into broad-based opportunity. Equal pay will remain an empty promise if access to secure employment continues to narrow.