Geochang County Establishes Strategies to Address Workforce Shortages through Rural Labor Shortage Council

Significant Increase in Recruitment of Public Seasonal Workers in 2025

Geochang County, Gyeongnam Province, announced on the 20th that it held a Rural Labor Shortage Countermeasure Council meeting in the county office situation room, with organizations and groups from the agricultural sector gathering together.

This Rural Labor Shortage Countermeasure Council is an organization in which 22 representatives from Geochang County, Nonghyup, farmers’ groups, and the Permanent Employment Social Cooperative participate as committee members. The council proposes and reviews countermeasures to address the chronic labor shortage problem caused by rural population decline and aging.

At the Geochang County Office Situation Room, agricultural organizations and groups are gathered to hold a Rural Labor Shortage Countermeasure Council meeting.

During the meeting, the current status of the seasonal foreign worker program, which is being implemented until the end of August, was reviewed based on interim results of a satisfaction survey among farmers. Policy improvement measures were discussed, and the operation plan for the agricultural workers’ dormitory, scheduled for completion in the second half of this year, was also addressed.

According to the interim results, 166 farms participated in the satisfaction survey. The satisfaction rate was 75% for farm-based seasonal workers and 85% for public seasonal workers. However, lack of skill (24%) was cited as a key issue for farm-based seasonal workers, while difficulty in making reservations due to insufficient personnel (49%) was pointed out for public seasonal workers.

The council discussed measures to improve skill levels, such as expanding re-entry for workers recommended by farms, selecting high-quality workers through local interviews, implementing a worker history management system, and providing customized job placement for farms. To resolve the difficulty in reserving public seasonal workers, it was agreed to significantly increase the number of workers starting in 2025.

County Governor Koo Inmo stated, “Resolving the rural labor shortage is the most important task for Geochang County, as it is directly linked to the livelihood of our farmers. We must continue to seek and improve policies so that they can provide practical help to the farms.”

Meanwhile, Geochang County plans to operate a Rural Workforce Integrated Support Center in the agricultural workers’ dormitory, which will be completed in the second half of this year. Until now, the farm-based seasonal worker employment consultation office, the public seasonal worker operation center, and the rural workforce brokerage center have been operated separately, limiting cooperation and causing inconvenience for residents. Through the integrated support center, Geochang County plans to unify these functions and provide a single window for rural workforce support, responding more efficiently to the rural labor shortage.