주 52시간 근무제 도입에 따른 청년층 임금근로자의 정신건강 변화

This study aims to investigate the effects of the 52-hour workweek regulation, introduced in 2018, on the mental health of youth wage earners in South Korea. As entry-level employees within an unstable labor market, youth workers are often exposed to long working hours with limited job autonomy; thus, the 52-hour workweek may have functioned as a crucial safety net for this demographic. However, recent discussions on potential revisions to the regulation have raised concerns over increased work hours for youth workers. This study seeks to inform these reform debates by empirically analyzing the causal relationship between the 52-hour workweek regulation and the mental health outcomes of youth adults. This analysis utilizes data from the 12th to 18th waves (2016–2022) of the Korean Welfare Panel Study, focusing on a sample of 3,449 youth adults aged 19 to 34 who maintained continuous employment for at least two consecutive years during the survey period. Given the phased implementation of the 52-hour workweek across workplaces of varying sizes, a difference-in-differences approach with multiple periods was employed to assess its effects. The findings reveal that the 52-hour workweek regulation significantly reduced depressive symptoms among youth wage earners. Furthermore, the regulation was associated with a significant improvement in self-esteem levels in this group. These results underscore the importance of expanding the 52-hour workweek as a supportive measure for the mental health of youth wage earners.