"We Provided Everything from Beds to Spoons, but They Left After Three Months"... Companies in Distress

74.5% Request to Change Workplaces... High Turnover Within One Year

Despite Salary and Housing Support, Many Seek "Higher-Paying Jobs"

Rising Outflow in Regional Areas... "Urgent Need for Measures Reflecting Skill Levels"

"I bought everything for them, from beds to spoons, but now they say they're going to leave in less than three months."

Kim, a 62-year-old who runs a food company in Gangseo-gu, Busan, is recently feeling the limits of operating his factory. This is because foreign workers are demanding transfers one after another and leaving the company. Kim lamented, "I paid a fee of 800,000 won just to bring in one foreign worker, used translation apps to teach them skills, but all I got in return were unreasonable demands to change jobs." He is also paying monthly rent for the empty rooms in the dormitory he leased for foreign employees.

On the afternoon of the 1st, a foreign worker is focused on work at a metal workshop in Jung-gu, Incheon. Foreign nationals from Cambodia and Myanmar who entered the country with a non-professional employment visa (E-9) through the Employment Permit System are working here. Photo by Hosoo Park

As the government considers easing restrictions on workplace transfers for foreign workers under the Employment Permit System, concerns are growing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While the move aims to prevent human rights violations and address criticism about workers being tied to a single employer, those on the ground—already struggling with severe labor shortages—are voicing worries about increased uncertainty due to accelerated outflow of manpower.

According to a survey conducted in January this year by the Korea Federation of SMEs of 310 SMEs employing foreign nationals, 74.5% of respondents said they had received requests from foreign workers to transfer to another workplace. Among these, 71.4% said workers requested a transfer within one year of arrival. Early departure requests within three months were higher in non-metropolitan areas (37.8%) than in the Seoul metropolitan area (29.5%), highlighting the more acute labor shortage faced by regional SMEs.

Employers point out that foreign workers, despite agreeing to contract terms before entering Korea, often change their attitude on site in pursuit of higher earnings. Hong, a 59-year-old CEO of an auto parts company in North Gyeongsang Province, said, "At the time of the contract, they agree to work eight hours a day, but as soon as they arrive in Korea, they insist on being assigned overtime work without exception. If we tell them there is no overtime available, that's when they begin to slack off and prepare to change jobs."

According to a Ministry of Data and Statistics survey in March this year, 50.2% of foreign workers earned between 2 million and 3 million won per month, and 36.9% earned more than 3 million won. The wage gap with Korean workers is virtually negligible. Some have also pointed out that, when factoring in accommodation and management costs, the effective labor cost is higher than that for Korean workers. Park, a 61-year-old owner of a metal processing plant in Naju, South Jeolla Province, explained, "The idea that foreign labor is cheap is outdated. When you add the basic salary and the monthly rent subsidy, the fixed costs for foreign employees are actually higher than for local workers."

The reason SMEs are sensitive to easing restrictions on foreign worker job transfers is that the foreign workforce is directly linked to the survival of their factories. In the same survey, 93.8% of companies said they hire foreign workers not to save on labor costs, but because they cannot find domestic workers. In reality, when a foreign worker leaves, it can take several months to recruit a replacement from overseas, and repeated departures often mean factories cannot meet delivery deadlines and must pay penalties.

The SME sector argues that the current system should be maintained to minimize disruption in the field. A representative from the Korea Federation of SMEs stated, "Major developed countries like the United States and Japan also strictly limit job changes for foreign workers on employment visas. To ensure operational stability, there needs to be a safeguard requiring at least two years of work at a single workplace."

The government is maintaining a cautious stance. A representative from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "We are reviewing the relaxation of requirements to prevent unfair treatment, but nothing has been decided yet. We will collect opinions from both labor and management in a balanced manner."

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