Korea's Self-Employed Are Less Happy Than Salaried Workers

The self-employed are less happy than wage earners in Korea although in many foreign countries it is the other way round.

A report published by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs based on a decade-long survey compared happiness among self-employed people and salaried workers in 39 OECD nations.

In 30 of the nations including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. people who work for themselves are happier than those who work for others.

Only in nine countries including Colombia, Italy and Mexico are salaried people happier than those who have their own business, and the happiness gap is the widest in Korea.

In this country the proportion of self-employed people dropped from 24.6 percent in 2019 to 23.9 percent last year because many are shutting down their small business in the face of fierce competition.

"Many of self-employed people in Korea had to start their own business because they had few chances of being employed by others," said Kim Seong-ah at the institute said. "They also took the hardest blow from the coronavirus pandemic."

According to the World Happiness Report 2021 by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a UN advisory organization, Korea ranks a gloomy 50th among 95 countries surveyed.