ANDONG, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) — With a growing number of seasonal migrant workers wary of coming to South Korea due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, securing workers in farming areas is becoming a serious challenge.
North Gyeongsang Province was initially allocated 765 seasonal workers from Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia in the first half of this year to help remedy the labor shortage during the short-term intensive working period.
However, as the spread of COVID-19 either delayed the start of work or prompted some workers to cancel their trip to South Korea altogether, the government decided to solve the problem by utilizing centers that support manpower in 13 cities and counties in the province.
The centers will secure available workers such as temporary unemployed construction site workers, the self-employed and general public in advance and connect them with vulnerable farmers.
To this end, the province plans to provide publicity and guidance to the media and city’s homepages so that centers can recruit idle workers and allocate them to farmers in the April to June period during the farming season.
Image Credit: Yonhap / Yanggu County Office / photonews@koreabizwire.com
