User:JohnnelRawson/sandbox

The current Wikipedia article I am working on is Working Hours in South Korea. Based on the current layout of the article, I plan to add an introductory paragraph that provides more info than the previous iteration of the article. I should explain what working hours are and what constitutes working hours. The second paragraph I plan to incorporate is the relationship between working hours and outside factors of life (i.e. the level of happiness and productivity). Also, I will provide less of a personal tone than the previous iteration. It is important to present the facts and then back up the information with sources.

As early as in recent years, long working hours have been a formality in East Asian countries, such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea that an "overtime culture" has developed. In 2012, South Korea had the longest annual working hours at 2092. Their President Par Geun-hye attempted to lower the maximum working hours from 68 to 52, in order to compete with nations with shorter work weeks. In 2004, there was an incorporation of the Five-Day Working policy, in order to remedy the low productivity and high rates of injuries in the industrial sector. The average work hours per worker decreased by 10% (i.e 5 hours). Nations with less working hours, such as Germany with 1397 hours and France 1479 hours, are placed in the higher percentile and considered the richest globally, where South Korea is ranked 15th in GDP.

Working hours in correlation to happiness
The happiness of the workers is a valued statistic because happiness is associated with productivity. South Korean workers are placed in a lean-production strategy, by using fixed-period contracts, which entails lower skilled workers and less benefits. It is generally hypothesized that this form of fixed-periods tend to force workers to go overtime. Although, based on an empirical data by Tobit, there is more overtime work in the private-permanent jobs in South Korea. According to a 2010 East Asian Social Survey study, working hours are inversely correlated within China, Japan, and Taiwan, but the studies found that there is no such correlation for South Korea, where working hours were not predictive of happiness. Although there is no direct correlation, data through the Korean Working Conditions Survey show that work stress affects depressive symptoms in 20% to 40% to those who worked more than 40 hours in the week. The study concluded that an independent risk variable for depressive factors in workers is the length of work hours in the week.