[Exclusive] Biannual Demand Survey... Introduction of 'Public Seasonal Workers' in Rural and Fishing Villages

Complex Procedures Cause Delays in Deployment
Detailed Workforce Survey in Shipbuilding and Other Sectors

The government plans to increase the annual foreign workforce demand survey and quota determination, previously conducted once a year by industry, to twice a year, while conducting more detailed workforce demand surveys for the root industry and shipbuilding industry. For seasonal agricultural and fishery labor, the government will fully implement the 'public seasonal labor system,' where local agricultural cooperatives and fisheries cooperatives directly hire foreign workers and supply them to farms.

According to related ministries on the 11th, the government included these measures in the reform plan for the foreign workforce introduction system. The existing system, created during a period of population growth, is deemed unsuitable for the current labor market, where foreign workforce demand is increasing and domestic labor supply is insufficient. The government recognizes that under the current system, the matching function between foreign job demand and companies in the field is weak, and thus system changes are necessary starting from the workforce demand identification stage.

The government pointed out that a problem with the current foreign workforce introduction system is that it operates rigidly, resulting in untimely workforce supply. Besides the supply shortage caused by industry-specific quota allocations, the excessively long allocation cycle makes it difficult for companies to utilize the workforce when needed. In particular, administrative procedures such as entry and visa issuance are complicated, causing a time lag of more than three months between the government's workforce introduction decision and the actual deployment.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Accordingly, the government decided to shorten the decision cycle for introducing foreign workers. The industrial foreign workforce demand survey, currently conducted once a year under the supervision of the Ministry of Employment and Labor and others, will be increased to twice a year. Reflecting this, the number of foreign workforce introduction quota decisions will also be increased from once to twice a year.

The demand survey to accurately grasp how much foreign workforce is needed in each industry field will also be systematized. Especially for industries with severe labor shortages, such as the root industry and shipbuilding, more detailed workforce demand surveys will be conducted. While workforce shortage demand has been surveyed based on major industry classifications, going forward, workforce demand situations will be closely examined based on sub-classifications. For example, instead of a general demand survey for the entire root industry, separate workforce situations for non-ferrous metal casting and metal casting industries will be examined. The intention is to understand detailed workforce demand even within the same industry.

The seasonal labor (E-8 visa) introduction system in rural areas, which lacks a systematic foreign workforce introduction system, will also be revised. In rural agricultural and fishery areas, seasonal labor demand concentrates due to seasonal factors such as sowing and harvesting, so short-term seasonal labor (within 8 months) is implemented. Currently, local governments identify demand and directly introduce overseas workers, but due to visa administrative issues, they often fail to secure the workforce allocated by the Ministry of Justice.

The government plans to expand the ‘public seasonal labor system,’ where local agricultural cooperatives and fisheries cooperatives, which have a high understanding of rural sites, directly hire seasonal workers and provide labor to farms and fisheries in need. A government official explained, “Some local agricultural cooperatives are already operating this project,” adding, “On farms, there have been covert issues of employing illegal residents as labor, and the aim is to safely legalize this within the system.”