The nation has embarked on a full-fledged era of five-day workweeks following the effectuation of the revised Labor Standard Act.

The Labor Ministry announced Wednesday that from Thursday, legal working hours of public corporations and their affiliates with over 1,000 employees will be reduced to 40 hours from the current 44 hours per week.

Around 1.8 million people in some 8,300 workplaces, including 7,600 financial and security firms and 280 public companies, will be affected by the new workweek system.

The reduced working hours for smaller companies will be implemented over a phased period until the year 2008.

Up to now, 51.5 percent of all public firms have concluded pertinent negotiations including removal of monthly leaves, improvement of vacation days, and restrictions on further curtailment of wages.