Research On The Introduction Of Foreign Labors In South Korea

With the development of economic globalization, international trade and investment get increased a lot, and at the same time the floating of cross-border labors becomes more frequent. The introduction of foreign workers has a relatively short history in South Korea. From the 1960s to 1970s, in order to reduce the domestic employment stress it once exported lots of labors to many countries such as Germany, Vietnam and the Middle East. In this period, most of the domestic employees were nonprofessional technical workers. They did not care to choose the 3D (Difficult, Dirty, Dangerous) jobs with the employment pressure and poverty alleviation. Since 1980s, with the socio-economic development, the national income has been improved continuously, and the employees who were willing to be engaged in the 3D work decreased rapidly. In addition, with the low fertility rate and the aging problem as well as the increase of high academic qualified workers, South Korea is facing severe domestic shortage of workers. This led to Korea's high demand for foreign workers especially for the manufacturing industry, service industry, construction industry, aquaculture industry and livestock industry.In order to solve the problem of domestic labor shortage, the South Korean government has implemented lots of foreign labors introduction systems at different times, such as the overseas enterprises investment training system, industrial training system, employment management system, employment permit system, employment interview system. According to the Korea National Statistical Department and the Korea Exit and Entry Administration, until the end of 2008, the total number of foreigners staying in Korea has been 1,158,866, increased 8.7% compared to2007.。In particular, in August 2007 the foreigner staying population surpassed one million for the first time and at the end of 2007 the population rate of foreigners surpassed 2 percent of the total population for the first time. At the end of 2008, the total number of the foreign employees (including nonprofessional technical workers, professional technical workers and illegal workers) was about 720,000 accounting for 63% of the total remaining people. The introduced foreign workers in Korea accounted for 4.4% of the domestic labor force (approximately 3% of the total employee number). Overall, the introduced foreign laborers in Korea differ a lot in such areas as the nationality, ethnicity, engagement area and staying time.The international migration of labors problem is one of the focuses of many countries. The scale and characteristics of international labor migration diverse a lot. The foreign workers introduction systems also differ a lot but generally they can be divided into two kinds, namely, supply-driven systems and demand-driven systems). South Korea adopts the demand-driven system to introduce foreign workers. Under such system, the government permits the employment of foreign workers only if the employment does not have a negative impact on the domestic employment, wages as well as working conditions. The permitted employers can carry out selective employment within the permitted number scope and employment areas. Because it only has a relatively short history, the migration of the foreign labors has a relatively temporary characteristic. Initially, the main purpose of the introduction of foreign workers in Korea was to solve the labor shortage problem. However, during the implementation process, there have been lots of problems due to the imperfect system as well as the social cultural differences.At present, the South Korea government carries out the unified employment permit system and employment interview system for foreign employees. Broadly speaking, the foreign compatriot employment permit system is also an integral part of the system. In accordance with the "Foreign Labor Introduction Plan in 2008" which was passed by the Korean Foreign Labor Policy Commission and the Government Policy Coordination Office, South Korea will introduce 132,000 foreign workers including 72,000 common foreigners and 60,000 foreign compatriots according to the"Employment Interview System", the total number increased by 20.4% compared to 2007.Faced with the labor market structural shortage problem and the substantial inflow of foreign workers, there has been a lot of discussion in this area in South Korea. The Korean labor gap will change with the change of population structure and industrial structure. The high-skilled and professional technical occupations, as well as the low-skilled and non-professional technical occupations will increase dramatically and the polarization phenomenon will appear. Currently, the low-skilled and non-professional technical workforce gap problem such as the 3D industry is being focused. However, the high-skilled and professional technical workers demand should also be stressed. At present, the foreign workers introduction policy in Korea is at a critical period of adjustment, and the introduction scale will also change with the policy orientation.According to South Korea National Statistical Department, at the end of 2008 the total number of Chinese staying in South Korea is about 557,000. The main staying types are employment, oversea study, training and so on. China is the main foreign labor import country for South Korea and at the same time South Korea is also one of China's major labor export countries.This paper carries out an in-depth analysis of the scale, number, characteristics and policy change trends about the introduction of foreign labor in South Korea. It also suggests that China should make full use of the expanding of foreign labor introduction in Korea and further improve the Government's support system of labor export. Some Asian labor exporting countries like the Philippines, with their similar labor force structure and wage levels as ours, and as well as their strong language skills and comprehensive government support systems, are having fierce competition with China in the South Korea labor market.Therefore, China should further improve government's labor export services support system in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of oversea Chinese laborers. In order to adapt to the high-quality services demand in South Korea, China should strengthen the reserves of various types of personnel and the training of exported workers in the areas such as language, professional skills and the overall quality. Only in this way can we better respond to the future adjustment of Korea's labor import policy. This will also have a great significance in promoting exchanges and human resources cooperation between China and South Korea. In addition, this is also helpful in improving the regional cooperation in Northeast Asia.