South Korea’s construction industry is showing signs of severe stress across all major indicators. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Roughly 230,000 foreign nationals worked in South Korea’s construction industry in 2024, accounting for 14.7% of the sector’s total workforce, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association.
Of these, over 83% were ethnic Korean Chinese, or Joseonjok, highlighting their dominant role in the country’s foreign construction labor force. Other notable groups included non-Korean Chinese (5.9%), Vietnamese (2.2%), and ethnic Koreans from Russia (1.7%).
The report, based on data from foreign workers enrolled in the national retirement mutual aid program, revealed that more than half (50.4%) of these workers held F-4 visas, which are granted to foreign nationals of Korean descent, including former Korean citizens and their descendants.
Despite regulatory restrictions that technically bar F-4 visa holders from engaging in manual labor, many were found working in such roles on construction sites. The report cited this discrepancy as evidence of a widening gap between immigration policy and labor market realities.
The average age of foreign construction workers was 42.5 years, slightly younger than the domestic average of 45.7, and more than 66% were concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, indicating a strong regional reliance on migrant labor.
The full report, titled Construction Site Report, is publicly available through the Mutual Aid Association’s website.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
