Reviving Project to Support Foreign Workers with College Degrees in Korea: Government Initiative to Fill Hiring Gaps

A project to support foreign workers with college degrees or higher to work at domestic small and medium-sized companies is being revived for the first time in 10 years. It was a project that had been scrapped in the past because of criticism that “jobs for young people in Korea are being taken away by foreigners,” but because the hiring crisis was not in the small and medium business shows no signs of slowing down, the government said. decided to restart the project focusing on foreign college students who came to study in Korea. The study is that the foreign manpower supply and demand policy will not be limited to simple jobs and ‘3D industries’ that the Koreans avoid, but will be a sign to expand to so-called ‘successful’ workplaces special knowledge and skills.

Graphics = Yang Jin-kyung

◇ Bringing in foreign workers with college degrees for the first time in 10 years

According to the industry on the 25th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is re-promoting the ‘Professional Foreign Personnel Introduction Support Project’ to help local small and medium enterprises hire foreign skilled workers. The plan is to hire companies that want to hire foreign workers and send workers in the second half of this year. Initially, this project was implemented for 15 years from 2001 to bring foreign workers with special knowledge, rather than unskilled workers (E9 visa) engaged in simple labor jobs, to the country and put them in companies that need them. The government subsidized foreign workers’ living expenses, airfare, and a portion of their wages to companies that were determined to be eligible for support. However, at the time, it was abolished in 2016 due to criticism that “Korean youth are also struggling to earn, so should we spend taxes to bring in foreigners?” ” This is because at that time, the problems related to recruitment, low birth rates, and regional extinction for local and small businesses were not as bad as they are now.

However, as the local manpower shortage worsened, the government issued a charter to bring in foreign experts. We also took into account changes in the domestic attitudes of foreign workers. A small business official said, “Even graduates from local four-year universities try to get jobs in the metropolitan area and don’t pay attention to local companies,” he said, “Nationality doesn’t matter as long as you can for us to find professional staff. who will stay in the area for a long time.”

However, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is focusing on recruiting foreign students in Korea rather than bringing in personnel from abroad as in the past. Domestic companies prefer international students because they have already adjusted to life in Korea and are fluent in Korean. The effort and cost of bringing in workers from abroad can also be reduced. In this regard, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is talking to related ministries such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and they have also entrusted related research services.

Graphics = Yang Jin-kyung

Over the past 10 years, the number of foreigners studying abroad in Korea has increased rapidly due to the ‘K Culture’ craze. The number of international students, which was 85,923 in 2013, increased to 166,892 in 2022. It is also expected that the era of ‘300,000 foreign students’ will begin in 2027.

Han Chang-yong, head of the Policy Consultation Center at the Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises, said, “Many international students want to get a job in Korea, but it is common for them to return to their home country because it Sorry. to get information about companies. “

◇ Local governments, local universities step forward to ‘invite international students’

With the news that the number of foreign students employed in Korea is increasing, local governments and local universities are continuing efforts to attract international students. North Chungcheong Province, together with local university officials, visited Uzbekistan on the 15th and carried out activities to attract international students. The Ministry of Education has designated local universities as ‘glocal universities’ and supports attracting and recruiting students from abroad. Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “We are talking about measures such as creating a ‘matching platform’ that will support connecting overseas students with talent that companies want.”

Experts say that cooperation between the government, companies, local governments, and universities is essential for foreign students to settle down as high-quality human resources in Korea. Integrated support is needed, with the Ministry of Education in charge of attracting international students, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in charge of researching and recruiting small and medium-sized businesses that need foreign professional workers, universities that in charge of establishing new departments or courses. in demand from companies, and local governments who are in charge of creating a settlement situation. Kim Seok-ho, professor of sociology at Seoul National University, said, “If various government ministries cooperate to allow excellent overseas students to settle in Korea, it will also help to solving manpower shortages and population problems.”