'Rebound After 8 Years' Korean Shipbuilding Industry Technical Workforce, Foreigners Account for Nearly 10%

The domestic industrial technology workforce reached approximately 1.72 million, marking an increase for the third consecutive year. While the semiconductor and bio-health industrial technology workforce saw significant growth, the textile and display sectors experienced a decline. The shipbuilding sector saw an increase in industrial technology personnel for the first time in eight years, buoyed by a boom.

According to the "2024 Industrial Technology Workforce Supply and Demand Survey" released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 31st, as of the end of 2023, the industrial technology workforce totaled 1,716,846, a 1.0% (17,172 people) increase compared to the previous year. The domestic industrial technology workforce decreased by 0.9% in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 but has recorded growth for three consecutive years since 2021.

The industrial technology workforce in the 12 major industries totaled 1,142,482, a 1.2% increase from the previous year. By sector, only the textile (-0.9%) and display (-0.1%) industries showed a decline compared to the previous year, while all other major industries increased. Notably, shipbuilding (0.8%) broke an eight-year streak of workforce decline and rebounded. The proportion of foreigners in the shipbuilding industry rose to 9.5%, up 6.2 percentage points (P) from the previous year. This appears to be a result of shipbuilding companies expanding foreign recruitment due to labor shortages. The semiconductor (4.4%) and bio-health (4.0%) industries maintained a consistently high growth rate compared to other major industries.

Semiconductor, bio-health, software, and IT business sectors have seen an increase in industrial technology personnel for five consecutive years, whereas the textile sector has experienced a decline for five consecutive years.

The shortage of industrial technology personnel totaled 39,190, a 1.9% (714 people) increase from the previous year. The shortage rate remained steady at 2.2% over the past five years. The shortage figure refers to the number of personnel needed beyond the current workforce for normal business operations and production facility functioning. By sector, software (6,536), electronics (5,556), chemicals (4,681), and machinery (4,238) had the highest shortages.

The proportion of experienced workers among job openings and hires has shown a gradual increase over five years. The share of experienced worker recruitment was 54.3% in 2019 and rose to 55.2% in 2023. Conversely, the share of new hires decreased from 45.4% to 44.5% during the same period.

This industrial technology workforce supply and demand survey was conducted from July 29 to October 18 among 21,086 sampled business establishments nationwide with 10 or more employees.

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