SME Industry "Foreign Workforce Entry Must Resume to Overcome Crisis"

Korea Federation of SMEs Announces Results of Industry Survey on Resumption of Foreign Workforce Entry

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] A survey has revealed that foreign worker entry should be resumed promptly to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome their crisis. The Korea Federation of SMEs (Chairman Kim Ki-moon) announced the results of the 'Industry Opinion Survey on Resuming Foreign Worker Entry' on the 29th.

The survey was conducted by the Federation of SMEs from the 17th to the 20th targeting 1,478 companies that applied for foreign workers whose entry has been delayed since April due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Through the Employment Permit System, about 40,000 foreign workers have been assigned annually to small and medium manufacturing companies, but this year, due to COVID-19, no foreign workers have entered from April to July, with only 2,003 arrivals by the end of March, deepening a production workforce gap for about four months.

Regarding production disruptions related to the delayed entry of foreign workers, the survey responses were as follows: ▲Production disruptions are already occurring (57.7%) ▲Concerns about production disruptions within 1-2 months (17.7%) ▲Concerns about production disruptions within 3-4 months (11.5%). In total, 86.9% of companies expressed concerns about production disruptions within the year due to entry delays.

Regarding the necessity of resuming foreign worker entry in relation to these production disruptions, 80.3% of respondent companies hoped for resumption measures, with ▲Urgent need to resume foreign worker entry with strengthened quarantine and inspection due to worsening labor shortages (59.5%) and ▲Need to resume entry within the year despite the COVID-19 situation (20.8%).

Additionally, while 65.6% of companies are willing to bear the COVID-19 testing costs after foreign workers enter to ensure thorough quarantine and rapid entry, 88.4% reported insufficient facilities to self-quarantine foreign workers independently, indicating the need for government and local government support for quarantine facilities.

Lee Tae-hee, Head of the Smart Job Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "If the delay in foreign worker entry due to COVID-19 prolongs, the efforts of SMEs to overcome the COVID-19 situation could be nullified by the production workforce gap," and emphasized, "It is time to consider resuming entry by strengthening quarantine measures such as conducting two or more COVID-19 tests before and after entry for workers from safe countries evaluated based on the trend of confirmed COVID-19 cases and quarantine systems in sending countries, and implementing self-quarantine measures supported by local governments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.