Nowadays, there is an increase in economic competitiveness between many nations. Therefore, some countries have a policy to raise the average working duration. In my opinion, a long average working time will have positive effects on a country’s economy, but at the same time society has to face negative consequences.
Firstly, the more time working, the more successful the economy. Employees can work more productively, so they can create more products and value for companies as well as their countries. The profit of the company will increase and the income of employees will go up. And the result is that the nation’s GDP will have positive growth. It is evident that the country’s economy will become more successful. Korea has the longest working time in Asia. Before 2018 the average working time of Korea was 68 hours per week- a high number. But with this, Korea is a developed economy, and even it is considered as four Asian dragons. It is apparent that countries with a long average working time are more economically successful.
However, with a long average working time, countries are likely to have more negative social issues. When employees work for a long time, it is definitely that it will have bad effects on their mental and physical health. People usually suffer from physical health issues like cardiovascular diseases, neck or back pain and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. All these problems make quality of life increasingly reduced. It creates a medical burden for society because it costs to buy medicine and equipment to cure patients. Japan is known for its culture of long working hours, it has seen high economic growth in Asia. However, this has been accompanied by significant social issues related to stress, overwork deaths. Each year in Japan, there are approximately 2000 death cases relevant to overwork.
Besides, working long duration also affects relationships in the family. Employees do not have time for their family, so the relationship between husband and wife becomes discord, leading to a growth in divorce rates and at the same time they cannot closely manage their children. Consequently, Society becomes chaotic and many social evils appear. Certainly, work beyond acceptable time leaves negative social consequences.
In conclusion, a long average working time has benefits but we can not ignore various severe social consequences that it creates. Achieving a sustainable balance between economic productivity and social well-being is crucial for long-term development. Countries should adopt policies about suitable work time, life-work balance and have more effective solutions for economic development.