Efficiency

Perhaps you've heard that people in Seoul work longer hours than anyone else in the developed world? If not, check it out here

UBS recently did a report on Korea, finding that not only do Koreans work more than anybody on earth, their cost of living is also higher (see the article in our "Korea in the news" section). People in Seoul pay 20% more for the same crap than people pay in New York City, and yet New York kicks ass, while Seoul...er what's the word? Sucks?

This might strike you as logical on some level (not the sucking part, but the rest) - Koreans work the longest hours because they have such a high cost of living. They gotta earn more so they can afford this overpriced suck-fest. Sadly, this is not the case. First of all, Koreans employees earn squat compared with other countries. Now, this is partially do to the fact that the Korean system is in no way based on merit, and most rewards are simply doled out to the crooks who've made it to the highest position in the company - most likely by being born into it. Non-executives make nothing. But there's a deeper issue at play: efficiency.

This country has got to be the most inefficient place outside of Africa that I've ever seen. Sure, people stay at work all night long, but they don't accomplish a damn thing. Most of the time the younger Kims are just sitting around holding their dicks while they wait for Kim the Elder to finally leave. When they are working, they perform meaningless tasks because only the top brass is allowed to use their brains in a Korean company. (And we must assume that by the time they reach that level, they've spent too much time inhaling fumes in the bathroom to be of much use).

Take for example my stupid job, wherein I do almost nothing. Last week I got a bit riled at my boss for not including me on important projects and meetings that were clearly within the scope of what I theoretically do here. In response, my boss gave me a task: he asked me to read a book. This book was written by some British guy about how to do business in Russia. Now the fact that this Brit asshole knows nothing is beside the point. (The book is filled with such brilliant insight as : "it's cold in Russia", and "don't mention Communism in a meeting"). The point is that my boss actually suggested I present this book to the entire company. I have never been to Russia, much less lived there - meanwhile we have bona fide Russians working for us, as well as many Koreans who have spent months there on assignment. Why would anyone benefit from my book report on the topic? And yet this is the most meaningful task I have been given in 2 weeks.

Do you doubt me, dear reader? Think that my meaningless life has made me too critical of the Korean workforce? Well consider this: basic economic theory tells us that a worker will be paid the marginal product of his labour. We have already noted that Koreans earn far less than other OECD workers. This means (roughly) that they don't produce as much. We also know that Korea is ranked 31st in overall competitiveness in the world. All this overtime amounts to nothing whatsoever.

Therefore, the gratuitous extra hours every night still can't make up for the fact that this country is so god-damned inefficient that they can't even properly rip off the Japanese anymore without wasting a few billion Won.