Uiseong County Directly Recruits Seasonal Workers On-Site In Cambodia

Expansion to 708 Public-Sector Workers
Resolving Peak-Season Labor Shortages with Skilled Workers

Uiseong County in North Gyeongsang Province has begun on-site recruitment overseas to resolve the shortage of farm labor during the busy farming season.

The county is pursuing a practical strategy focused on effectiveness, aiming to improve how much farmers actually feel the benefits by securing "verified workers" rather than simply increasing headcount.

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Uiseong County announced that, in order to secure public-sector foreign seasonal workers, county officials and working-level staff from the agricultural cooperatives that operate the public seasonal work center (Saeuiseong, Geumseong, and Seouiseong Nonghyup) have been dispatched to Cambodia, where they are currently conducting on-site interviews.

This project is part of the public seasonal work center contest program organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Uiseong County has been selected for this program for four consecutive years since 2023, thereby establishing a stable foundation for implementation.

The scale of intake has been further expanded this year. The number of foreign seasonal workers has increased from 547 last year to 708, and the number of public-sector workers has risen from 64 to 90. The county plans to structurally fill the "labor gaps" that recur every peak farming season.

In particular, the workforce, which had been centered mainly on women, has been expanded to include male workers, making it possible to deploy labor more flexibly in line with the intensity and nature of each task. During the on-site interviews, applicants are comprehensively evaluated on their willingness to work, physical strength, adaptability to farm work, and understanding of agricultural operations, and only those who can be put to work immediately are selected.

The county also plans to maintain a certain proportion of workers who re-enter the country faithfully, in order to raise skill levels and shorten on-site adaptation periods, thereby improving farmer satisfaction.

Uiseong County Governor Kim Jusu said, "The public seasonal worker program is a key policy for resolving labor shortages during the busy farming season," adding, "We will establish a stable labor management system that can satisfy both farmers and workers."

The success or failure of seasonal labor policy depends not on "how many" workers are brought in, but on "how well" the system is run. Uiseong County's direct on-site recruitment is a case of shifting rural labor policy from quantitative expansion to qualitative management. When the way people are secured changes, agricultural competitiveness changes as well.