[THE INVESTOR] It takes the average Korean workers more than 100 minutes to commute to and from work every day, according to data by Job Korea, an internet employment site, on July 17. In the case of Seoul residents, the average daily commute was 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Job Korea surveyed 820 men and women and found that the average worker spent 101.1 minutes commuting to and from work. The surveyors said their commute to work takes roughly 48.1 minutes, while heading home from work takes 53 minutes.

The survey showed that 27.7 percent of the commuters take the subway, while 20.7 percent of workers took the bus. Roughly 17.1 percent said they take a combination of the bus and subway to get to and from work. Driving to work made up 26.3 percent, while 3.9 percent of respondents said they walk.   

For Seoul residents, the daily commute was roughly 30 minutes more than the average compared to other regions at around 134.7 minutes.

Roughly 44.4 percent of Seoul residents commute via the subway, 18.1 percent by bus and 20.1 percent said they use both buses and the subway. More than 80 percent of the respondents say they use public transportation for their daily commute. 

Of the respondents, 48.4 percent said they typically listen to music during their commute, 43.9 percent said they surf the web for news, 21 percent listen to the radio, 20.5 percent play mobile games and 14.3 percent say they browse social networking sites. 

In a separate survey, data released by Saramin, another employment portal site, on July 17 also revealed that Korean employees work overtime an average of four days a week. 

Saramin surveyed 1486 local employees, and of the respondents, 78.9 percent answered they work overtime. 

The results showed that 56.2 percent answered they worked overtime because they have a lot of work, 38.7 percent said it was because it is the characteristic of the job and had no choice, while 30.3 percent answered they felt pressured to work late. 

By Julie Jackson/The Korea Herald (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)