'3 Days to the Serious Accident Punishment Act' Won't This Cause Accidents... "200,000 Construction Workers Shortage This Year"

Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association Publishes Report on Worker Supply and Training Demand
Mutual Aid Association: "Severe Shortage of Skilled Construction Workers, Urgent Need for Systematic Development by Occupation and Region"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] On the 24th, three days before the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association released an analysis stating that domestic labor will be short by about 200,000 workers compared to on-site demand this year. Although the level of punishment for management officials of workplaces where serious accidents occur is increasing, the workforce is insufficient and construction deadlines are fixed, so the structure of overworking to meet deadlines is not improving at all.

According to the "Construction Worker Supply and Demand Status and Training Demand Survey Report" published by the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association on the same day, the shortage of domestic construction workers is expected to reach 214,609 this year. It is analyzed that supply (1,539,173) will not keep up with demand (1,753,782). Moreover, since there are many short-term workers such as daily workers with labor contracts of less than one month, the number may have been overestimated. However, foreign labor stands at 316,380, and if all of them are deployed on-site, it is expected that there will be no supply shortage.

A shortage of supply is expected across all construction job categories. In particular, labor shortages are projected in job categories such as architectural plumbing (18,401), formwork carpentry (17,352), architectural carpentry (15,201), and steel structure (14,478).

Especially, the shortage of skilled workers on-site has been revealed to be severe. In a survey of about 1,000 construction workers, 60% of workers responded that the supply of skilled workers such as Korean team leaders, foremen, and craftsmen was either insufficient (32%) or slightly insufficient (28%). This is about twice the number of those who responded that it was adequate (32%). Among employers, those who said it was insufficient were 22% for "very insufficient" and 36% for "slightly insufficient," which is more than the 41% who said it was adequate. As of last year, daily wages were 200,548 won for team leaders and foremen, 191,291 won for craftsmen, 153,006 won for semi-skilled workers, and 136,718 won for helpers. With the workforce already insufficient, the high wages are expected to make supply and demand more difficult.

Kang Seungbok, Deputy Director of the Mutual Aid Association’s Research Center, said, "Through this analysis, we found that to expand the skilled workforce base and achieve sustainable growth in the construction industry, it is urgent to accurately grasp on-site labor demand and systematically cultivate skilled workers by job category and region." The report can be found in the data room on the Mutual Aid Association’s Public Relations Center website.

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