Foreign grass is greener for Korean job hunters

Interest in foreign jobs among Koreans is growing, according to a survey by Incruit.
Almost 40 percent of job seekers polled by the Internet job information provider said they won’t return to Korea once they obtain employment in foreign countries.
The report on the poll results, released yesterday, blamed the uncertain future and instability of the domestic labor market.
“Korean job seekers have already experienced an intense competition for jobs,” said Lee Gwang-seok, chairman of Incruit. “They have also seen employees being laid off after several years of employment. Foreign jobs must seem attractive to them.”
The company polled 1,786 potential workers, of which 76 percent answered they either want to work abroad or would put foreign jobs above domestic ones in their job hunt.
About 24 percent of those polled said they intended to work only in Korea.
The company reported that the number of job seekers who want employment overseas increased after the conclusion of the Korea-United States free trade talks. In the same poll conducted before the trade pact, only 58 percent of job seekers said they wanted to work abroad.
Though the survey sample is different this time, 30 percent of respondents to the most recent poll said they changed their minds on whether to work in a foreign country after the Korea-U.S. FTA talks were settled.
“Having a chance to live in a foreign country with employment at the same time is not bad,” said a human resources specialist, who declined to be identified. “It is not a matter of which country you work in. It is which company that matters.”
The specialist cautioned that some of the positive images of foreign jobs may be exaggerated.

By Hwang Young-jin Staff Writer [yhwang@joongang.co.kr]