Worse, the monthly pay gap between nonregular and regular workers widened to 1.94 million won, feeding inequalities on the job front.
Nonregular workers increased 103,000 and its share to the work force 38.5 percent - the highest on record - while that of regular payroll increased 10,000 to 13.86 million, according to data released Wednesday by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Regular workers earned an average of 4.052 million won ($3,060) a month during the June–August period, up 4.0 percent from a year earlier. Nonregular workers earned 2.112 million won, up just 1.1 percent.
The gap widened to 1.94 million won from 1.808 million won a year earlier.
The comparison, however, does not adjust for differences in working days or hours. Excluding part-time workers, average monthly pay for nonregular employees stood at 3.098 million won, narrowing the gap with regular workers to 954,000 won.
Older workers accounted for much of the increase in nonregular employment.
The number aged 60 or older rose by 135,000 to 3.18 million, representing 36.7 percent of all nonregular workers.
Within that group, those aged 70 or older increased by 85,000 to 1.29 million. The number aged 29 or younger fell by 64,000 to 1.48 million.
Temporary and part-time employment also expanded.
Temporary workers increased by 187,000 to 6.04 million, while part-time workers rose by 152,000 to 4.38 million. These categories overlap and therefore do not add up to the total number of nonregular workers.
Part-time workers accounted for 50.5 percent of nonregular employees, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier. By contrast, the number classified as atypical workers fell by 48,000 to 1.79 million.
Health and social welfare services had the largest nonregular workforce at 1.87 million, or 21.5 percent of the total, after adding 112,000 workers from a year earlier.
Accommodation and food services added 43,000 nonregular workers, while information and communications shed 24,000 and public administration lost 22,000.
Other measures of working conditions were mixed.
The share of nonregular workers who said they voluntarily chose their employment type edged up by 0.2 percentage point to 68.0 percent. Their average tenure increased by one month to three years, while average weekly working hours rose by 1.3 hours to 29.5 hours.
Employment insurance coverage increased by 0.3 percentage point to 54.0 percent. National Pension coverage, however, fell by 0.6 percentage point to 36.5 percent, while health insurance coverage edged down by 0.2 percentage point to 53.0 percent.
Access to retirement benefits, bonuses, overtime pay and paid holidays also declined from a year earlier.
Under the narrower definition used by the OECD for international comparisons, temporary workers accounted for 28.2 percent of South Korea’s wage workforce in August, up from 27.5 percent a year earlier.
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