(123rf)
(123rf)

A report from a state-affiliated agency recently indicated that production staff members of local media are routinely overworked, with a quarter of the employment contracts not in writing.

According to the recent report on working environment for production staff in various media, they worked on average 49.9 hours a week between the surveyed period from January to August 2024. Some 56.9 percent said they worked between 40 and 52 hours, while 17.3 percent said 53 to 60 hours and 11.9 percent said they worked for more than 60 hours a week.

The legal working hours in Korea is 40 hours a week, with a maximum 12 hours’ extension possible.

Producers worked the longest, at 56 hours on average, along with 52.6 hours for writers, 50.5 hours for art staff, 46.3 hours for technical staff and 46.1 hours for postproduction staff. Staff members on variety shows worked for 52.4 hours, followed by 49.5 hours for TV drama staff and 47.7 hours for educational program staff.

Female staff members worked for 51.2 hours on average, compared to 48.8 hours for their male colleagues.

The report showed that 47.6 percent of respondents had worked for 12 to 17 hours on a single shift, with 20.4 percent saying they had worked for 24 hours or more without clocking out. Asked about the longest period worked consecutively, the average answer for respondents was 19.7 hours.

The average answer for producers was 28.6 hours, followed by 23.4 hours for writers, 16.4 hours for technical staff, 16.1 hours for art staff and 15.5 hours for postproduction staff.

It was found that a substantial proportion of employment contracts were done verbally, marking 26.2 percent in 2024, which declined from 35.5 percent in 2023. About 34.4 percent of the respondents said they have worked under verbal contracts.

Even for those working under written contracts, 34.2 percent had signed freelance deals.

About 9.2 percent of respondents said they had been fired while under contract, including 19.9 percent among writers and 15.9 percent among producers. The most frequent causes were programs being canceled due to various reasons or budget cuts.

Around 51.2 percent of the respondents said they were not content with their job stability.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com