Minister Oh Young-joo: "We Will Resolve SME Labor Shortages by Linking Employment for International Students"

SMEs-International Students Collaboration Advisory Meeting
"Worsening Shortage of Highly Skilled Workers in SMEs"
"Employment Connection Through Matching with Foreign International Students"

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is preparing measures to alleviate the manpower shortage of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by utilizing foreign international students.

On the morning of the 11th, Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, held the 'SME-International Student Linkage Advisory Meeting' in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, to discuss manpower support measures for SMEs using foreign international students. The event was attended by Ministry of SMEs and Startups officials, university presidents, and SME representatives.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is speaking at the 'SME-International Students Linkage Advisory Meeting' held on the 11th in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
[Photo by Yeom Da-yeon]

At the event, Han Chang-yong, head of the Small and Medium Business Research Institute, who presented the keynote speech, explained, "The unfilled rate in SMEs is more than twice as high as that of companies with over 300 employees, and the manpower shortage is intensifying. Especially in situations requiring highly skilled personnel, the number of university graduate-level workers in SMEs is continuously decreasing, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand."

According to the Korea Employment Information Service, jobs in professional and service sectors are expected to increase more than simple labor jobs. However, despite the increase in the use of foreign workers by domestic SMEs, employment of foreign professionals is decreasing.

Han said, "The number of foreign international students is steadily increasing, and a high proportion plan to stay in Korea and seek employment after graduation. If a system to match international students with SMEs is established, it is expected to meet the demands of both sides."

As of last year, there were about 180,000 foreign international students in Korea, which is about ten times more than 20 years ago. Among them, 63% were found to plan to stay in Korea after graduation. Of those planning to stay, 56.2% chose employment as their plan.

He added that discussions are needed regarding the gap between the majors required by SMEs and the actual majors of international students. He explained, "The occupations with high unfilled positions are software developers and salespersons, but 41% of all international students are in business and economics fields, while engineering fields such as electrical and electronics account for less than 5%. Finding ways to bridge the gap between demand and actual majors is a challenge."

In response, Minister Oh Young-joo said, "Every time I visit many workplaces, I feel that the manpower shortage in SMEs is truly serious, and we are exploring various channels to solve this. As part of this, we will create a platform to properly match foreign international students with SMEs and prepare concrete measures soon through inter-ministerial consultations."

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