Korea’s technical talent pool runs dry

Kiscomm, a developer of the technology used in transportation cards, is pleading for labor these days. “We can’t find anyone with master’s or doctorate degrees,” the company said. “Some graduate schools in Korea produce students in our field, but it is extremely difficult to find the right person.” In the end, Kiscomm’s search took it all the way to the Ukraine. A human resources official in the Russian government helped create contacts, and the company recruited three scientists who had studied in Russia. The lack of qualified human resources speaks volumes about the “crisis in science and engineering” that is being detected here these days. Companies that deal with advanced technologies are complaining that there simply isn’t a large enough talent pool of recruits. Mtekvision, a Seoul-based maker of semiconductor chips for camera phones, is badly in need of employees. The company has already sold 10 million chips this year and is aiming at sales of 150 billion won this year. However, it lacks design researchers. “Currently, we have 60 researchers but we need double that number,” said Jeon Han-cheol, director of the company’s technology research lab. “The president tells us to hire more people, but I just can’t find anyone who is up to the job.” Those who graduated from Korean science schools aren’t ready to be thrown right into the workforce. Mr. Jeon explained that it takes at least three years to train a fresh recruit, and that it is not easy for smaller companies to make that kind of investment in time and money. The situation is no better at larger companies. A human resources director at Samsung Group recently said that the company spends about 80 billion won a year to re-educate 6,000 college engineering grads. At the other end of the field, technicians are in as short supply as researchers. An automobile engine parts provider in Seoul said that defect rates have been rising recently because the company is so short of skilled technicians. “To meet the expectations or demands of auto companies, we need to hire 50 trained engineers each with at least 10 years of experience under their belt,” a senior executive said. The company said it has given up on employing graduates from technical high schools, as they have a tendency to quit early. He said he is worried that there is no one for senior engineers to pass their skills on to. “We are hiring foreign industrial trainees these days, but the language barrier makes it hard to communicate and so we can’t give them the proper training,” the company official said. “Many manufacturing processes are automated these days, but some skills that have been acquired over decades cannot be compared to any machine.” The firm said it is looking at China as a possible solution. “Production technologies there are about five years behind, but there are many skilled laborers.” These technical jobs are being avoided by the younger generation because they are manual jobs that are often categorized as “3D” (“Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous”) work. “In industrial complexes like Banwol or Namdong, most of the technical specialists are more than 50 years old,” said an official at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Whether it is high technology research staff or vehicle mechanics, the fields of science and engineering are pleading for people. The commerce ministry estimates that in the next five years, there will be annual shortages of around 18,000 each year in the fields of automobiles, shipbuilding, steel, chemical engineering, electronics, energy, and textiles. “In the case of the electronics industry, the market is now about eight times larger than it was in 1986,” said Kwon OH-hyun of Samsung Electronics. “The number of specialists in the field who have masters or doctorate degrees, however, has only increased about 2.6 times.” He added, “We are finding it hard to meet demand.” The Small and Medium Business Administration conducted a survey on companies that had more than five but fewer than 300 employees. The results showed that these companies were short of 139,000 people every year. And yet, as of May, nationwide youth unemployment numbers were 780,000. The government, realizing this is a national problem, is taking steps to alleviate the situation, but many people are pointing out that its policy of “balanced support” is making little change. Last year, it divided its funding into two parts, giving half to regional colleges and half to Seoul-based colleges. “We shouldn’t spend 5 million won on 10 people, but 10 million won on five people a year,” said a computer professor at Gyeongbuk University. “More benefits should be given to the science and engineering industry on a national level,” said Lee Koo-hwan, executive director of Microsoft Korea. “In the 1970s and 80s, such benefits made science popular, but now it’s a different story.” by Special Reporting Team