S Korea Needs 132,000 Foreign Workers, Ministry of Labor

by Elizer Penaranda Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:33 am

MOL Announces 2008 Foreign Workforce Import Plan
132,000 foreign workers will be brought in this year
by: Dondave Jabay

Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do � The Ministry of Labor (MOL) announced its 2008 Foreign Workforce Import Plan during the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee meeting chaired by the head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination on Feb. 14.

According to the plan, the total number of workers to be brought in this year is 132,000, of which 60,000 are ethnic Koreans living overseas and the other 72,000 are general foreigners.

This year�s plan was made in consideration of the demand for workers who will come to replace those expected to depart due to the end of their three-year employment contract period and the current state of labor shortages on small and medium manufacturing firms,� MOL Director Lee Tae-Hee explained.

The total figure is up by 23,000 compare to last year. In 2007, about 109,000 workers were introduced under the Employment Permit System. Among them, 49,600 were general foreigners and 60,000 were ethnic Koreans.

The announcement did not include yet the specific number of workers to be assigned to each sending countries under the Employment Permit System (EPS) such as China, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and other Asian countries.

The lists of industries in which employers are permitted to employ foreign workers are almost the same as last year, except that lodging industry is added to the list and that tourist hotels will be allowed to hire foreigners on a pilot basis. However, facility maintenance and management and worker dispatch services, a subcategory of employment services, are removed from the list of industries permitted to employ ethnic Koreans.

Meanwhile, actual demands for foreign workforces at industrial sites were reflected as much as possible in deciding the maximum number who can be employed by each workplace.

For industries with a manpower shortage rate higher than 4.16%, the shortage rate for small and medium manufacturing workplaces with less than 300 workers, the maximum proportion of foreign workers in each workplace is revised upwards to 20%.

In addition, restaurants with 6～10 workers will be permitted to hire a maximum of four foreign workers instead of the current three.

The Ministry of Labor also announced the total foreign workers in Korea. As of December last year, there were a total of 642,000 foreign workers staying in Korea. And according to their status of sojourn, they can be divided as follows: 180,000 foreigners with an employment visa including those 134,012 foreign workers holding an E9 visa under the Employment Permit System and 34,128 professional workforces; 230,000 ethnic Koreans with an H-2 visa; 28,000 industrial trainees and foreign workers hired for short-term employment; and 202,000 illegal foreigners.

by amie sison Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:20 pm

the other country really need of migrants workers. i wonder why our country can't provide a high paying job to filipinos. though we are a competitive workers.

S Korea Needs 132,000 Foreign Workers, Ministry of Labor

S Korea Needs 132,000 Foreign Workers, Ministry of Labor

thanks