SEOUL, April 16, (Korea Bizwire) — A large majority of South Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employing foreign workers under the country’s Employment Permit System expressed satisfaction with the current framework, despite persistent concerns about language barriers and bureaucratic complexity, a new survey shows. According to the Korea Federation of SMEs, 86.8 percent of [...]
SEOUL, March 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A new government survey has revealed that the number of non-professional foreign workers holding E-9 visas in South Korea now exceeds 300,000, with the vast majority employed in the mining and manufacturing industries. Statistics Korea released its “2024 Survey on Immigration Status and Employment – Foreign Residents by Visa Status” [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s foreign workforce has reached a historic milestone, surpassing 1 million workers for the first time, with nearly half employed in mining and manufacturing sectors, according to government data released December 17. A Statistics Korea report on immigrant residency and employment showed that as of May, the number of [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – As South Korea grapples with record-breaking levels of wage arrears this year, a new report has revealed that foreign workers have borne a disproportionate share of the burden, with unpaid wages totaling nearly 70 billion won in the first seven months of 2024. According to data obtained from the Ministry [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea needs to consider accepting more foreign workers to increase its working-age population amid a looming demographic crisis, a presidential aide said Wednesday. You Hye-mi, a senior aide on addressing low birth rates, made the remark in a radio interview as South Korea is grappling with the world’s [...]
HAMYANG, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – For A, a 31-year-old Vietnamese worker, home in South Korea is a dormitory that defies expectations. Arriving in March with 35 colleagues under a seasonal worker agreement between Hamyang County and Vietnam’s Nam Tra My district, A initially harbored concerns about potentially harsh working conditions. Those worries have since dissipated. [...]
SEOUL, June 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean shipyards are making various efforts to attract foreign workers in response to a shortage of manpower. The nation’s shipbuilding industry is expected to face a shortage of approximately 13,000 production workers in the third quarter of this year, according to the Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association. HD [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent legislative change will make it easier for an immigrant spouse to acquire a South Korean visa if his or her Korean partner is willing to learn the spouse’s mother tongue. The Ministry of Justice announced Monday that the Korean language qualification required for a marriage visa will [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreign residents in South Korea has more than doubled over the past decade, with Vietnamese nationals accounting for the largest portion after China as of last year, government data showed Wednesday. The number of non-Korean citizens totaled 2.05 million as of end-December 2016, up from 910,000 [...]
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea lags behind rival industrialized countries in attracting talented foreign workers, various industry data showed Tuesday, despite the government’s effort to ease its visa issuance system to cope with the country’s declining labor force. The number of foreigners residing in South Korea jumped from 1.4 million in 2011 [...]