Busan is good

Busan Ranks 2nd Nationwide and 1st Among Metropolitan Cities in the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Work-Life Balance Index!

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that, in the “2024 Work-Life Balance Index” released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Busan ranked 2nd nationwide and 1st among special and metropolitan cities (including bonus points), once again being recognized as a city where work and life are harmoniously balanced.

The “Work-Life Balance Index” is published annually by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (commissioned to the Korean Women’s Development Institute) since 2018. It analyzes 25 indicators across five categories—Work, Life, System, Local Government Commitment, and Bonus Points—targeting 17 metropolitan-level local governments nationwide.

From the first announcement of the index, Busan has consistently remained among the top-ranked regions (1st to 3rd), building an image as “Busan, a livable city made happier by work-life balance.” After briefly falling to the middle tier in 2024 (based on 2023 data), Busan re-entered the top ranks in 2025 (based on 2024 data) through determined efforts, reclaiming 2nd place nationwide.

Based on 2024 data, Busan scored 73.0 points in the Work-Life Balance Index. By region, the highest scores were recorded by Jeollanam-do (75.6 points), Busan (73.0 points), and Seoul (72.8 points).

Busan’s score has been on a steady upward trend since 2017, when it stood at 39.5 points. This year’s result marks the largest year-on-year increase to date (+7.7 points, up from 65.3 points in 2023).

This improvement was driven by better indicators at Busan companies—such as reduced overtime hours, higher adoption and utilization rates of flexible work arrangements, and increased vacation days used—leading to a sharp rise in the “Work” category, from 15th nationwide in 2023 to 1st nationwide in 2024.

Compared with 2023, Busan’s detailed indicator scores for 2024 increased as follows: overtime hours rose from 1.7 to 2.3 points; adoption of flexible work arrangements from 1.2 to 2.5 points; utilization rate from 3.1 to 4.8 points; and the number of vacation days used from 1.1 to 2.3 points.

Busan also achieved above-mid-tier results (ranked 6th to 12th) across the “Life,” “System,” and “Local Government Commitment” categories, and earned a perfect score in the “Bonus Points” category for promoting government-certified domestic service activation.

Busan Metropolitan City has implemented a variety of policies that companies and residents can directly feel, in order to spread a work-life balance culture.

Beginning with the enactment of the “Busan Metropolitan City Ordinance on Supporting Work-Life Balance” in 2018, the city established a dedicated organization within City Hall as well as a Work-Life Balance Support Center, and has continued to invest administrative attention and effort to strengthen work-life balance across the local community.

In particular, last year (2025), to help embed a work-life balance culture within workplaces, the city carried out initiatives including: intensive promotion of work-life balance systems and support programs for small businesses; customized corporate consulting by professional consultants; workplace training on work-life balance; encouragement for companies to foster a family-friendly workplace culture; selection of two exemplary companies for gender equality in employment; selection of five outstanding work-life balance companies; and campaigns to support and cheer on companies and workers.

Busan Metropolitan City has also operated “Work-Life Balance Week” every year since 2018, reaffirming the meaning of work-life balance and promoting the establishment and spread of relevant systems across the region. During this year’s Work-Life Balance Week, a wide range of citizen-focused events—including a commemorative ceremony and a forum, as well as family- and coworker-oriented activities such as movie screenings and yacht experiences—were held and received an enthusiastic response.

This year as well, Busan Metropolitan City plans to promote on-site, field-oriented initiatives—such as “on-the-road briefing sessions”—centered on industrial complexes and other areas where SMEs are concentrated, reflecting the region’s characteristics as a city with many small businesses, so that work-life balance can continue to expand.

The city plans to focus its efforts on spreading a work-life balance culture among small and medium-sized enterprises by directly visiting companies, promoting work-life balance systems, providing tailored information to each workplace, and linking them to government support programs.

In addition, Busan Metropolitan City will expand consulting to increase the number of family-friendly certified companies, and will continue developing benefits (incentives) that only certified companies and their employees can enjoy.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “This result reflects the outcomes of Busan Metropolitan City’s continued attention and efforts to improve work-life balance in the region,” adding, “We will continue striving to improve systems and policies that companies and residents can truly feel, and will do our utmost to build ‘Busan, a happy city with work-life balance.’”