Korea Federation of SMEs Holds 'Briefing Session on Expanding Skilled Foreign Workers'

The Korea Federation of SMEs (Chairman Kim Ki-moon) announced on the 14th that it held a 'Briefing Session on Innovative Expansion Plans for Skilled Foreign Workers' jointly with the Ministry of Justice at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido.

To alleviate labor shortages in industrial sites, the Ministry of Justice expanded the quota for skilled foreign workers (E-7-4) from 5,000 to 35,000 this year and implemented the 'Innovative Skilled Worker Expansion Plan (K-point E74)' as of September 25. This system verifies foreign workers in simple labor fields with accumulated skills through a points-based system and selectively converts their status to long-term employment visas.

However, according to a recent survey by the Korea Federation of SMEs, 79.2% of surveyed companies responded that they were not well aware of the skilled worker (E-7-4) status conversion system. This raised the issue that small and medium-sized enterprises, the policy users, do not know the details and utilization methods of the system.

Accordingly, the Korea Federation of SMEs and the Ministry of Justice organized a briefing session for HR managers of SMEs, foreign workforce managers of SME cooperatives and organizations, where Ministry of Justice officials directly explained key system improvements, utilization methods, and application procedures, and responded to attendees' questions.

Lee Myung-ro, Head of the Human Resources Policy Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "Although the Ministry of Justice proactively improved the system to resolve field difficulties of SMEs, for government policies to be effective, there must be sufficient promotion of system improvements and communication with the field." He added, "The Korea Federation of SMEs will faithfully serve as a bridge between the government and the field to ensure that good policies can have greater impact."