Attract more foreign talent to Korea

The government has drastically opened doors to skilled foreign workers. It aims to bolster the number of skilled foreign workers to 300,000 from 1,000 in 2020 by relaxing the requirements for the E-7-4 visa. The stay permit for seasonal migrant workers can be extended to eight months from current five months. The move would help relieve much of the dire labor shortage in hard labor field. But such a step can hardly address the structural manpower problem in Korea due to its thinning working population.

In its national credit rating report on South Korea last month, Moody’s Investors Service pointed to “intensifying” demographic challenges as the country’s long-term risk to growth. Other rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch gave similar warnings. South Korea’s fertility rate fell to a fresh historic low of 0.78 last year and is expected to go even lower this year. Its working population is estimated to sink to 23.98 million in 2050 from 37.38 million in 2020.

Moody’s predicted the country’s potential growth to slow to 2.0 percent after 2025 as “demographic pressures will strain productivity and investment and cause financial problems.” It advised open immigration policy to attract young foreign workers to bolster productivity and help balance out the cost of supporting the aged population.

Korea has yet to show desperation in the race to land talented foreign workers. Japan and Taiwan competing in the chipmaking and other high-tech areas are vying to lure foreign engineers. Japan and Taiwan last year drew 67,295 and 58,598 workers, respectively, from Vietnam. The number for Korea was just 9,968. Although visa quota stayed the same in Korea, the country was very casual in the hiring race.

Foreigners seeking work in Japan should be knowledgeable in the Japanese language as well as its everyday norms such as separating garbage. They are trained to be fit and valuable in the society. However, to apply for a farming job in Korea, foreigners need to pass just the test to pull a one-wheeled wagon in the S-shape course. As they have not been properly trained in the language and culture, foreign workers often clash with their employers to slip into the illegitimate category.

Although increasing foreign work visas is a meaningful progress, measures must follow to make foreigners feel at home and wish to stay here. High-tech experts also stress the need for an immigration policy to draw foreign brains in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. Immigration policy divided among the ministries of labor, maritime affairs, agriculture, and justice cannot help the country’s future. Although many steps behind Japan, Korea must establish an immigration agency to devise a systematic policy to draw foreign talents to Korea.