OFWs in South Korea

by reeve Tue May 06, 2008 12:14 am

OFWs in South Korea:
Issues and Challenges under the Employment Permit System
By Joyce Ann O. Dela Cruz

The Philippines is among the first countries to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Korea in August 2004 to implement the new Employment Permit System (EPS). Currently, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in South Korea comprise 17, 683 or about twenty-four percent (24%) of the foreign workers, ranking only second to Vietnamese workers. They work mostly in the manufacturing sector and small-scale family owned enterprises. They are recruited primarily to do �3D jobs� - those identified as dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs rejected by local workers.

The EPS is South Korea�s main labor policy mechanism that implements government to government labor migration of workers to the country. With the goal of enhancing cooperation in the field of labor and human capability building, the Philippine government designated POEA as the primary agency responsible for the sending of workers, and its counterpart Korean Ministry of Labor as the primary Korean government agency responsible for the screening and pre-qualifying of OFWs in Korea.

The Employment Permit System (EPS)

The Employment Permit System enables firms, which are not able to find domestic workers, to employ an appropriate number of migrant workers. Under the Employment Permit System, migrant workers are issued unskilled employment visas (E-9) which allows them to find jobs involving manual tasks, sign a labor contract with a Korean employer before entering the country, and work for up to three years at a small-and-medium-sized manufacturer with less than 300 employees in the agricultural, livestock or coastal fishing industries.

Labor related laws apply to foreign workers during the period of employment identical to Korean workers such as Labor Standard Act, Minimum Wages Act, Industrial Safety Health Act. They are issued E-9 sojourn status securing them legal employment status as foreign workers.

Issues and Challenges of OFWs under the EPS

Under the research grant of the ASEAN University Network Exchange Fellowship Programme 2007, this study was conducted to give focus on the issues and challenges relating to OFWs in South Korea deployed under the Employment Permit System after its introduction in 2004.

Researches on OFWs all over the world including studies on migrant workers in South Korea have been conducted in the past, but after three years of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the EPS between the Philippines and South Korea, there are but limited studies on its implementation and on OFWs deployed under this system. This study aimed to contribute to the existing literature on the topic.

This research, largely descriptive and exploratory, utilized the purposive sampling approach. Survey was administered through face to face interviews of sixty (60) OFWs. The researcher conducted the interviews from period August to October 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. The Philippine Overseas Labor Office, Hyehwadong Filipino Catholic Community ( HFCC ) as well as the Filipino EPS Workers Association (FEWA) a Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) registered organization in South Korea under the EPS program were valuable key informants in this research study.

Generally, the study has the following objectives:

. to present the issues and challenges being faced by OFWs deployed under the EPS in South Korea;
� to assess the gaps in the implementation of EPS and provide recommendations to address them;
� to examine and assess the policy mechanisms implemented by the Philippine government through its agencies in the country and in South Korea in response to issues and concerns of OFWs.

Conducting this research which probed on the issues and challenges experienced and perceived by OFWs in their living and working conditions in South Korea became of more importance to aid in the assessment of the EPS for future modifications and policy reviews.

Some of the problems of the OFWs under the EPS encountered include the following:�

Conflict with employer and/or Korean co-workers due to language and cultural differences;�

Heavy work load and long hours of work;

Employer too strict and would sometimes resort to verbal and physical abuse;
� Poor working conditions and other safety and health concerns;
� Delayed or unpaid salary; discrepancies on computation of overtime and night differential pay

(Pls refer below for the continuation)

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by samikah05 Fri May 09, 2008 10:52 am

SALAMAT POW!!

by reeve Sat May 10, 2008 10:15 am

OFWs in South Korea ..( Continuation )
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by reeve Tue May 13, 2008 11:40 pm

OFWs in South Korea:

Employment Permit System

By Joyce Ann O. Dela Cruz

Under the research grant of the ASEAN University Network Exchange Fellowship Programme 2007, the following research study was carried out to give focus on the issues and challenges relating to OFWs in South Korea deployed under the Employment Permit System. 60 OFWs were interviewed face to face interviews from period August to October 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. The researcher does not claim that the views expressed in this paper represent the whole Filipino EPS workers in South Korea.

Presentation of Primary Data Gathered

The age of the respondents range from 20 to 39 years old, 43% were between the ages of 35 to 39. Majority of those surveyed were male (56 or 93%), only 4 or 7% were female. Among those interviewed, 37 or 62% were married.

42 of the respondents have attended college, 22 or 37% earned degrees while 20 or 33% were undergraduates.

The respondents had varied jobs in the Philippines prior to coming to South Korea as migrant workers. The chance of earning higher salaries to be able to support their families motivated majority (68%) of the respondents to apply for a job in South Korea.

40% of the respondents have been working in South Korea as EPS worker from 1 year 6 months to 1 year and 11 months. Majority earn between 1 million to 1,300,000 Korean Won per month with an average 35 hours of overtime.

Majority (77%) of the respondents were employed, 15% were unemployed with release papers and 8% have illegal or runaway status during the time of the interview. 33% (15) of the employed EPS workers work in the manufacturing of metals and other related materials. A close 24% (11) work in the manufacture of plastics and 15% are employed in semiconductor companies. 19% (9) are doing assembly of wood furniture, processing of lumber and textile industry. These companies are mostly small family owned enterprises with less than 50 workers.

33 or 55% out of the total 60 respondents have had job transfers. This information is vital because EPS workers who have been previously released from their workplaces have their reasons of seeking their release papers. Their interviews reveal more problems and concerns that the concerned agencies can address with regards to the EPS implementation. The reasons for release given by respondents were also interpreted in this research as problems or gaps in the implementation of EPS.

Issues under the EPS

What are their major concerns regarding the implementation of the EPS? Those employed revealed that conflict with employers because of language and cultural differences remain a big problem for EPS workers. The respondents also complain of the heavy work load, forced overtime and long work hours as well as safety and health concerns in their workplaces. Some of them also experience verbal and physical abuse by employers.

Some respondents also had contract irregularities (different company, job description, salary stated on the contract sent and signed in the Philippines) while others had employers who failed to register them officially to the local job agency.

The respondents also encounter inconsistencies in the computation of their salaries and overtime pay. Although they ask their employers regarding this, most employers would not explain properly how they arrive with the amount. There are also instances that EPS workers receive fixed salaries regardless of how long they work depending on their agreement with their employer.

Recommendations

� Labor contract should be clear, translated to English and Filipino; the salary should be stated, overtime pay, night differentials should also be included in the labor contract;
� Philippine Labor Office and other NGOs working with OFWs should continue being responsive to complaints of OFWs;
� Work on developing an internal directory or database of companies employing Filipinos should be set up to be able to monitor where the Filipinos are;
� More realistic pre-departure orientation that would also include �testimonials� of former OFWs to South Korea, video clips and other relevant information and training materials;
� Korean employers employing Filipinos through the EPS should also be given orientation on the culture of their migrant workers to promote better understanding and work relationship;
� The survey also showed that language difficulties and cultural differences were the major concerns and problems encountered by the OFWs in South Korea. While these became obstacles in labor productivity of migrant workers and factors of misunderstanding between employers and workers, these also imply that longer training on Korean language and culture before deployment would be beneficial.

OFWs deployed under the EPS may only constitute a small percentage of Filipinos in South Korea but it is relevant to know that this migrant population type are the ones recruited under the �new and improved� guest permit system that was introduced by South Korea to regulated entry of migrant workers.

It is safe to assume that the EPS is the best strategy so far of South Korea in its labor migration policies, therefore analyzing problems/gaps in its implementation is seen in the case of Filipino EPS workers would be a learning process that could provide insights on how to further improve the system.

* The author is a graduate student of Asian Studies major in Korea from the Asian Center, University of the Philippines � Diliman. She is an awardee of Exchange Fellowship Programme under ASEAN-ROK Academic Exchange Programme 2007 facilitated by the ASEAN University Network through which the conduct of field research in South Korea was made possible.

Currently, she is also working as a Research Analyst for the Occupational Safety and Health Center, Department of Labor and Employment. ( Reeve)

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