Time to bring in foreign caregivers

The Bank of Korea (BOK) in a recent report pointed to the need to use foreign caregivers to solve the shortage in their services and rising costs despite the growing need. The central bank estimated a shortage of up to 1.55 million home caregivers for the elderly, sick and children in 2042. The labor mismatch in health services has caused caregiving costs to spike. Hiring a caregiver in nursing homes costs 3.7 million won ($2.773) a month on average. Home helpers cost 2.64 million won.

Due to the burden of home caregiver costs, family members end up taking up the caregiving role, which means abandoning their work and personal life.

The economic loss could reach 77 trillion won by 2042, equivalent to 2.1 to 3.6 percent of the GDP.

A practical solution is the acceptance for foreign migrants. Separate visas for helpers can be issued as in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. If families directly employ foreign migrants on a private contract basis, they can be exempted from the application of Korea’s statutory minimum wage.

Another option is the issuance of hiring permits for caregiving and homecare role as done in Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. In this case, care service needs to be exempted from the requirements for the minimum wage, the BOK proposed.

After a trial service of employing Filipino helpers at homes in the capital, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon admitted that not many homes can afford to pay more than 2 million won a month for a helper.

But society is having a tough time accepted the potential solution. Some claim that importing low-wage foreigners for care services goes against human rights, while labor unions oppose making exceptions in the minimum wage. BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong said, “There are few fruits left on the tree that can be picked easily. To get to the hard-to-reach ones, we need difficult structural reform.”

In other words, we must make difficult choices regardless of the painful process if we really want to resolve tough challenges like the ultralow birthrate, fast-aging society and unbalanced growth.

The labor sector also must change their thinking.

Those who desperately need the help of foreign helpers are the working and middle class. Service at care establishments is deteriorating due to a lack of caregivers to save costs. Terrible treatment of bedridden patients at nursing and care homes often makes news in this country.

If we don’t want to spend our old age in shabby establishments, we should at least pay heed to the recommendation from the central bank before it is too late.