Abstract Background To investigate the association between long working hours and self-rated health (SRH), examining the roles of potential confounding and mediating factors, such as job characteristics. Methods Data were pooled from seven waves (2005–2011) of the Korean Labour and Income Panel Study. A total of 1578 workers who consecutively participated in all seven study years were available for analysis. A generalized estimating equation for repeated measures with binary outcome was used to examine the association between working hours (five categories; 20–35, 36–40, 41–52, 53–68 and ≥69 h) and SRH (two categories; poor and good health), considering possible confounders and serial correlation. Results Associations between working hours and SRH were observed among women, but only for the category of the shortest working hours among men. The associations with the category of shortest working hours among men and women disappeared after adjustment for socioeconomic factors. Among women, though not men, workin...