▲ Pictures of various part-time jobs (Source:flaticon)

‘Part-time job,’ is a term derived from, ‘Arbeit,’ a word that means, ‘work,’ in German, and refers to temporary work, not the original job. Many college students experience social life in advance through part-time jobs before starting a full-fledged social life with a full time job. The Campus Journal conducted a survey on part-time jobs for CWNU students from November 2 to 4. 93.8% of students said they had worked part-time. Among the part-time jobs that CWNU students tried, 46.7% of them were working on campus, followed by serving part-time jobs accounted for 43.3%, and cafe part-time jobs accounted for 36.7%. However, there are people who work part-time, without looking for precautions to know before beginning their employment. As a result, there are often cases where they suffer damage. Then, what information would be good to know before working part-time?

First, it is necessary to know how much the minimum hourly wage is. Currently, Korea is implementing the, 'minimum wage system'. This is a system that protects low-wage workers by forcing the state to set the minimum wage and allow employers to pay workers wages above this level. In Korea, the minimum hourly wage has been rising every year, and as of 2021, the current minimum hourly wage is 8,720 won. However, except in cases where a labor contract is signed for less than one year, the employer can reduce 10% of the minimum wage paid to the worker during the probationary period.

It is also important to prepare a labor contract. A labor contract means a document prepared to prove that a contract has been established between a worker and an employer. The document must contain a place of work, job responsibilities, working hours, and wage payment methods. If this is not written, the employer will be fined up to 5 million won. Employers must pay holiday pay to workers who meet the prescribed working days, for at least 15 hours a week. Holiday pay means a day’s worth of wages that can be received, even if they do not work on a paid holiday. There are often cases where part-time jobs are notified of dismissal due to problems such as labor and management costs of employers. However, according to the Labor Standards Act, dismissal must be notified 30 days in advance to be recognized under the Act. If dismissal is notified within 30 days, workers can receive 30 days of wages.

Currently, there are various part-time jobs in Korea, such as school work, serving, cafe, convenience store, and academy part-time jobs. However, how can you find a customized part-time job? In response to this question, Jeong Hyun-mi, a student in the Department of Industrial Design, said, "Notices of part-time jobs that often appear about five times or more within a month don’t seem to be a good part-time job. This is because so many people try part-time jobs for a short period of time and quit quickly, as they think the environment of part-time jobs is not good." Son Min-ji, a student in the Department of Philosophy 21, said, "First of all, you need to find out if an employer writes and will sign a labor contract. If the minimum hourly wage for part-time work is high, we need to find out why. Also, if you live in an area where you're supposed to work part-time, I think it's a good idea to find out about the reputation of the part-time store."

Working part-time allows you to experience various opportunities and broaden your economic ideas. However, as the first experience of a part-time job can affect future social life, it is more important to find a part-time job that suits you, after carefully identifying the time, location, and part-time job announcement, rather than rushing to start a part-time job. Students who want to work part-time can refer to part-time job sites such as, ‘Albamon,’ and, ‘Albah cheonguk,’ or refer to the, ‘Bongnimgol Bulletin Board,’ in Wagle of CWNU, to gain various part-time employment experiences.

By Lee Yeon-jin, cub-reporter  dlduswls45@naver.com

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