Annual Salary Exceeds 70 Million Won in the US and UK... The 'Job' Rising with Aging Population [New Jobs]

3D Jobs Care Workers
US, UK Compete to Attract with Tens of Millions Won
'Housekeepers' Also Introduced in Korea in September

Editor's NoteWith super-aging and ultra-low birth rates, along with the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) era, new changes are occurring in the world of occupations. We bring you the world of new jobs that open paths for new challenges in working life or a second act in life.

From child care to elderly care, services that assist those who cannot live independently are called 'dolbom nodongja' (care workers) in Korea. According to the National Care Service Union, about 1.1 million care workers are economically active in the country.

A scene from the movie Mary Poppins, which has become a symbol of a 'nanny' in Western countries such as the UK and the US. [Image source=Mary Poppins still cut]

Care work was once considered a 3D job. Since it often involves assisting people who cannot support themselves physically, this was somewhat inevitable. The wages were low, and the positions were mainly filled by foreign immigrants rather than native Koreans.

However, as aging intensifies and demand for care soars daily, care workers might one day be regarded as a 'national asset.' Already, advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan attract hundreds of thousands of foreign care workers annually.

US and UK Compete to Attract Nannies... Annual Salaries Exceed 70 Million KRW

In the United States, Europe, and other regions, efforts are being made to expand childcare workers for foreign laborers.
[Image source: New York Department of Health website]

In the UK and Commonwealth countries, where dual-income families are common, 'nannies' who raise children on behalf of parents have long been employed. Nannies are mainly immigrants from Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines. However, after the pandemic, wages for certified childcare workers have surged.

According to 'Nannytax,' a UK care worker tax-related site, the average salary for a nanny in London last year was ?43,000 (approximately 75.63 million KRW). This is nearly on par with the average London salary of ?44,000 (about 77 million KRW) in the same year. This means that an average British couple must spend about half of their annual income to purchase childcare services. Consequently, those receiving childcare services in the UK are generally from middle- to upper-class households.

Similar trends are occurring in the United States. Due to soaring childcare costs, both countries have drastically lowered immigration barriers for healthcare workers and are attracting hundreds of thousands of childcare workers annually. In the US, the number of foreign nationals who obtained the H-1B visa for healthcare workers in fiscal year 2024 reached 780,000. The UK had about 330,000 in the same year. Thanks to this, annual immigration to these countries has surged, and despite the global trend of low birth rates, their populations are growing rapidly.

Japan Joins the Competition... Introduces Over 40,000 Vietnamese Caregivers

A nursing care center in Tokyo, Japan
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Japan, facing a much more severe population cliff than the US and UK, has also introduced 'foreign caregivers.' Japan has already implemented a 'foreign caregiver' system, attracting over 40,000 immigrant caregivers, and now large hospitals are actively recruiting caregivers from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

In advanced countries with intensifying low birth rates and aging populations, demand for caregivers inevitably soars. This is because the workforce needed to care for the elderly increases, and at the same time, the supply of child caregivers, which will decrease, must also be addressed.

If caregivers or childcare workers are not supplied in time, service costs?that is, the 'value' of the workers?will inevitably rise, and ordinary households, excluding the upper class, will be unable to afford childcare expenses. Ultimately, one spouse in a dual-income couple may be forced to give up their career to raise children, leading to a vicious cycle of further contraction in the labor market. This is why there is speculation that caregiving personnel could become a 'national asset.'

Will Foreign Caregivers Become a 'National Asset'?

In Korea, discussions on introducing a 'foreign caregiver' system are already underway. Earlier, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed introducing 'foreign domestic helpers' as part of low birth rate countermeasures, with implementation planned for September. The monthly salary for domestic helpers is about 2 million KRW, roughly similar to the current minimum wage.

A cost of 2 million KRW per month, or about 24 million KRW annually, can be a significant burden for an average couple living in Seoul. However, amid the ongoing global 'care workforce attraction competition,' it is questionable whether childcare costs can be lowered further than they are now. This is because countries with higher per capita GDP than Korea pay tens of millions of KRW annually to attract high-quality care workers.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, perceptions of care workers may shift entirely from 3D jobs to high-end service industry labor.