Regulation encourages hiring of Koreans

The Ministry of Employment and Labor will begin implementing a regulation next month designed to encourage domestic companies of more than 50 employees to recruit Korean workers before seeking foreign employees.

The ministry said yesterday that under the new initiative, small and medium-sized enterprises will be met with punitive actions if they deny job opportunities for Korean nationals more than two times without providing substantial reasoning.

Under existing regulations, companies are required to look for Korean nationals during the first two weeks of their employee search. If companies do not comply with the rule, they will be subject to a ban on employing overseas workers.

The Labor Ministry said that in addition to the new punitive measures, existing regulations will be more stringently enforced. The move comes as part of efforts to improve the country’s employment rate.

Korean job seekers have had difficulty finding employment while domestic firms’ demand for cheaper foreign workers is on the rise. Manufacturing business groups in particular have prioritized recruiting non-Korean workers due to financial constraints.

The number of employed foreigners in the country has been rising steadily. Close to 4,700 companies employ more than 46,000 non-Korean workers.

By Kang Jin-kyu [jkkang2@joongang.co.kr]