Number of delivery workers in Korea doubles during pandemic

A food delivery made in November in Seoul. [YONHAP]

The number of people engaged in delivery work more than doubled during the pandemic.

And they make an average 3.81 million won ($3,000) a month, which is good relative to average wages.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Tuesday, an estimated 237,188 worked delivering food and other small packages this year. That’s almost double the 119,626 in the first half of 2019.

In the first half of 2023, 450,000 worked in delivery, according to Statistics Korea, but this figure includes a wider range of delivery workers, such as postal workers.

Korea has 37 online services exclusively delivering food, such as Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo and Coupang Eats, and 51 delivery services that connect with restaurants, such as Barogo and Vroong.

There are 7,794 local delivery service companies.

The delivery workers made roughly 3.81 million won a month. The average wages of all workers in 2021, the last year available, was 3.27 million won.

On average, 37.4 food deliveries are made a day, and that number jumps to 42.3 during the weekend. Delivery workers traveled 103 kilometers on average during the week and 117 kilometers during the weekend.

They worked an average 25.3 days a month, and 4.3 out of 10 said they had been in a traffic accident in the last six months.

More than 70 percent said they were in an accident of their own making as they were either trying to meet delivery time or increase the number of orders.

The delivery workers say top priority is higher commissions.

The government study has also found that 88 percent of the people making delivery calls use delivery apps. The largest group of people (42 percent) made delivery orders between three to five times a month followed by one or two (38 percent)

Most delivery orders were placed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (67 percent).

Of those surveyed, 57 percent said the most appropriate delivery fee should be around 2,000 won.

The study was conducted starting in July by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, which is under the ministry.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]