Yeongam-gun Allocates 220 Foreign Seasonal Workers for Next Year

Yeongam-gun has been allocated 220 foreign seasonal workers for the first half of next year by the Ministry of Justice. Photo by Yeongam-gun

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Yeongam County announced on the 22nd that it has been allocated 220 foreign seasonal workers by the Ministry of Justice for the first half of next year to address the shortage of manpower in rural fishing villages within the county.

Based on the demand survey conducted last October through town and township offices and local agricultural cooperatives, the county applied for 220 workers from 45 farms and received allocation for all requested personnel.

The foreign seasonal worker program is a system that allows the legal employment of foreigners for a short period of 3 to 5 months to solve the labor shortage in rural fishing villages.

Applicants for the program must be farms registered as agricultural management entities and provide workers with comfortable accommodations equipped with heating and cooling facilities. Applications can be submitted year-round at the county office and town and township offices.

Applicants for family-invited seasonal work must be relatives within the fourth degree of kinship of multicultural families residing in Yeongam County, and applications can be submitted through the county office and town and township offices by January 6 of next year.

Woo Seung-hee, the mayor of Yeongam County, stated, “We are actively working to resolve difficulties in rural areas through the construction of foreign worker dormitories and signing MOUs with overseas local governments,” and added, “We will do our best to expand the foreign seasonal worker program to address rising labor costs and rural labor supply issues.”