"165,000 Foreign Workers Not Enough... 35,000 More Needed"

Korea Federation of SMEs 'Comprehensive Survey on Employment Difficulties of Foreign Workers'
'Insufficient Korean Language Skills' Biggest Challenge for Foreign Workers

Although the government decided to deploy 165,000 foreign workers this year to alleviate labor shortages, voices from the field indicated that this number is still insufficient. It is estimated that at least 35,000 more workers are needed.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of the '2023 Comprehensive Survey on Difficulties Related to Foreign Workforce Employment' conducted on 1,200 small and medium-sized manufacturing companies employing foreign workers on the 8th.

Insufficient Despite Record High of 165,000... Desired Number of Introductions Reaches 200,000

The survey results showed that small and medium-sized enterprises, where domestic workers increasingly avoid employment, hoped to hire more foreign workers for longer periods. Despite measures to raise the individual company employment limits for foreign workers, 29.7% of business owners still reported a shortage of foreign labor. These employers responded that an average of 4.9 additional workers were needed. Based on 54,780 companies utilizing foreign workers (E-9 visa holders), it is estimated that 16,270 companies have a demand for 79,723 additional workers.

Ultimately, although the scale of foreign worker introduction was expanded to 165,000 this year?an increase of 45,000 from last year's 120,000?an additional 35,000 workers are still required.

Additionally, 53.5% of small and medium-sized enterprises expressed the opinion that the maximum stay period for foreign workers (9 years and 8 months) should be extended by more than 5 years. The most urgent improvements needed in the current Employment Permit System were identified as 'establishing sanctions for unfaithful foreign workers' (35.5%) and 'providing incentives to foreign workers who have not changed workplaces for 4 years and 10 months' (19.3%), indicating the necessity of institutional measures to promote long-term employment of foreign workers.

Foreign Workers Face Difficulties Due to 'Low Korean Language Proficiency'

The average monthly labor cost per foreign worker, including accommodation and meals (409,000 KRW), was 3,056,000 KRW, with 67.9% of employers responding that they pay labor costs at the same level as domestic workers. However, compared to domestic workers under the same conditions, the productivity of foreign workers was only 59.0% during the initial employment period (less than 3 months).

The biggest difficulty in managing foreign workers was 'communication (low Korean language proficiency),' mentioned by 49.7%, the highest proportion. This figure increased by 5.7 percentage points compared to the previous survey, indicating that more employers are experiencing communication difficulties.

The most considered factors when hiring foreign workers were 'country of origin' at 65.9%, 'Korean language ability' at 48.0%, and 'physical conditions (height, weight, etc.)' at 33.4%, in that order. 'Korean language ability,' which ranked third in the 2022 survey, rose to second place in this survey.

Lee Myung-ro, Director of the Workforce Policy Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “Although institutional improvements such as increasing the government’s foreign workforce introduction quota and expanding individual workplace employment limits have partially alleviated the chronic labor shortage of small and medium-sized enterprises, this survey confirmed that both quantitative expansion and qualitative improvement of foreign workers are still necessary. To improve the low productivity of foreign workers, it is essential to strengthen vocational training before entry and provide education to enhance Korean communication skills.”

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