S. Korea urged to extend foreign workers’ stay

SEOUL: South Korean labour experts have called on the government to allow foreign workers to stay longer in the country amid concerns about an ageing population and shrinking pool for workers.

During a debate by the Korea Federation of SMEs on foreign employment policies, some labour experts said the government should also look into the rules on residence qualification for the workers.

According to a Korea Times report, the experts said these measures needed to be taken as a response to the country’s low birth rate and ageing population.

“The country’s demographic change could turn into a labour shortage and rapid ageing of the working population could lead to a decrease in labour productivity,” said Lee Kyu-yong, a senior researcher at the Centre for Labour Statistics Research of the Korea Labour Institute.

He said foreign labour management policies should be improved, including extending the workers’ length of stay and offering more diverse occupational training levels and forms of employment.

Noh Young-jin, a professor of business administration at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, said there was a greater need for vocational training, and agreed that foreign workers should be allowed to stay in the country longer to enable them to become more proficient in their jobs.

Lee Young, head of the Migrant Welfare Centre in Namyangju, said under the country’s Constitution’s principle of freedom in employment, foreign workers should be granted the right to change jobs and lengthen their stay here for work

Foreign workers are usually not allowed to change their employers, and this allegedly led to some workers enduring abuse at the workplaces.