Overtime's impact on well-being in four East Asia societies

The issue of working conditions and worker rights increasingly becomes a major concern in public policy as extraordinary long working hours with severe impacts on workers’ health and other well-beings all the more reflect the “dark side” of miraculous economic performance of East Asia. Based on the East Asian Social Survey data collected in 2008, the empirical findings show that in Japan the professional class experienced long grueling work hours compared to lower-grade workers. China as a reversed image of Japan in this aspect exemplifies a critical case of transition economy, in which lower-stratum workers can hardly earn enough even by excessive overtime. This outcome appears to show this class’ self-exploitation as a way of realizing profits in this region (except Japan). Finally, cautions should be used in predicting that contract workers, in contrast to their permanent counterparts, work longer hours. In Japan, their consideration of life style might be a factor that they do not prefer extra hours beyond the legal standard. Yet in South Korea and China, contract workers are mostly “full-timers” that have to work longer to compensate their low wages. In this aspect divergence in overtime might represent different motivations for the four neighbor countries. This study additionally assesses overtime’s impact on level of happiness. As expected, Taiwan and China observed a significant negative effect of overtime (this relation is slightly attenuated in South Korea). In Japan, as it is those occupying higher social positions that work longer, their well-being is not necessarily threatened by overtime. These cross-cultural differences further assert the need of comparative analysis of national contexts of overtime and wellbeing.