[Industrial Complex Embracing Foreigners]③ "Coexistence is Destiny... Must Approach Long-Term"

Need to Strengthen Workforce Pool Standards
Support for Long-Term Competitiveness After Settlement Also Needed

Editor's NoteAs the importance of foreign workers grows amid rapid changes in population structure and industrial conditions, various issues surrounding foreign workers are emerging in industrial sites. There is particular concern on-site about conflicts and accidents that may arise due to foreign workers' language skills and lack of cultural understanding. Nevertheless, foreign workers have established themselves as a group we must embrace and coexist with. Asia Economy highlights the scenes and voices from workplaces employing foreign workers and presents cases of finding breakthroughs despite harsh conditions in a total of three installments.

①The Increasing Importance of Foreign Workers, Yet Persistent ‘Communication Barriers’

②After Work, the Complex Cultural Center Becomes a 'Hot Place'... Daebulsandan Industrial Complex is Changing

③"Coexistence is Fate... Must Approach Long-Term"

Focus on Rapid Workforce Supply... Need to Strengthen Standards

Experts unanimously agree that it is necessary to revise the pre- and post-entry systems for foreign workers to help them integrate smoothly into our industrial sites. The current system focuses heavily on rapid workforce supply to solve labor shortages in industrial sites, but fails to thoroughly review comprehensive backgrounds such as language ability, cultural understanding, and job suitability.

Currently, foreign workers pass the Employment Permit System Korean Language Proficiency Test (EPS-TOPIK) and meet age, health status, and criminal background check requirements to be registered in the E-9 workforce pool as selection candidates. Domestic companies then submit announcements specifying the desired conditions for foreign workers, and the computerized system automatically recommends 2 to 3 times the number of suitable candidates from the pool. Workplaces can directly select the most preferred worker from these recommended candidates.

Lee Gyu-yong, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, advised on the 31st, "The first step is to strengthen standards such as Korean language proficiency during the selection process, and next, it is necessary to create mandatory measures so that foreign workers can continuously receive language education even after arrival. I believe it is necessary to enforce this by imposing disadvantages on workplaces that do not cooperate with providing about one year of Korean language education after foreign workers enter the country."

Kyuyong Lee, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Labor Institute

There were also calls for a control tower to integrate and organically operate the foreign worker education functions currently dispersed across multiple ministries such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Employment and Labor, and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Kim Hyung-woo, Deputy Director of the Foreign Workforce Support Office at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "Language and cultural education functions are fragmented among several ministries ? the social integration program run by the Ministry of Justice, family support centers under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and foreigner support centers under the Ministry of Employment and Labor ? making it confusing for foreign workers to know where and what policies they can receive. I think there needs to be a main ministry that combines these functions and operates them consistently and organically."

Need to Consider Ways to Build Competitiveness After Settlement

There was also an opinion that from a long-term perspective, foreign workers should be supported to build competitiveness so they can successfully settle and live in society. According to the Ministry of Justice, foreigners who currently obtain the non-skilled employment visa (E-9) can stay in Korea for up to 9 years and 8 months by extending twice during the initial 4 years and 10 months. Foreigners who reach the maximum stay period and meet additional requirements such as Korean language proficiency and salary can convert to a skilled worker visa (E-7-4), which grants long-term stay status for more than 5 years. Subsequently, they can sequentially acquire permanent residency.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice is easing and expanding the E-7-4 conversion requirements, including temporarily implementing until 2026 a special case where the Korean language requirement is verified after the initial conversion to the E-7-4 visa. This is a measure considering the worsening labor shortage in domestic industrial sites.

Experts pointed out that while the government is easing long-term stay requirements for foreign workers to address immediate labor shortages, it is neglecting support to help them build competitiveness from a long-term perspective. According to the 'Immigrant Stay Status and Employment Survey Results' released by Statistics Korea last year, the foreign resident population increased by 130,000 (9.1%) to 1,561,000 compared to the previous year, but the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 5.7%.

Senior Research Fellow Lee said, "It is necessary not only to ease stay requirements but also to support foreign workers so they do not become unemployed, have quality jobs, and continuously survive in Korea’s competitive society. Looking at immigrant unemployment statistics, Korea is by no means an easy place for foreigners to be competitive and live. Moreover, there are many policies in welfare, education, and labor that are essential for foreigners to settle but are only available to Korean nationals, so these areas need to be addressed." He added, "Ultimately, there remains the major issue of deciding the content, scope, and budget allocation of social programs, which is impossible without unifying social public opinion."

Deputy Director Kim also said, "Although basic support policies such as guarantee insurance, accident insurance, and severance pay for those entering through the E-9 visa are well established, efforts to integrate them socially as active members of Korean society by viewing them as ongoing workforce and spending social costs on social integration are insufficient. Ultimately, this connects to the discussion on how we accept immigration. Immigration society is an unstoppable trend, and we need to carefully coordinate public perception to minimize backlash, such as concerns about domestic job infringement, and move forward in that direction."