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Four out of 10 international students in Korea want to work here too, survey says

Published: 06 Jan. 2025, 15:19

International students have a counseling session with a recruiting company at an international student job fair held at Kyungsung University on Sept. 27, 2024. [YONHAP]

Four out of 10 international students who study in Korea want to work in Korea, too, rather than in their home countries or elsewhere, a recent survey showed.

Of the 1,207 foreign students who took part in the survey, 42.5 percent said they are only interested in working in Korea, according to the Ministry of Education on Sunday.

Another 45.5 percent expressed openness to working either in Korea or their home countries, while the remaining 12 percent answered that they would work in Korea or another country other than their home countries.

The surveys were conducted at international student job fairs held nationwide from last June to October.

When asked about preferred employment locations within Korea, 55.1 percent of students selected their current area of residence, while 37.2 percent chose the greater Seoul area.

In terms of preferred industries, manufacturing and mining was the most popular choice, with 16.1 percent of students expressing interest. Other preferred sectors included wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services at 10 percent; professional, scientific and technical services at 9.8 percent; and public and educational services at 9.5 percent.

The nationalities of the surveyed students varied, with Vietnamese students comprising the largest group at 32.6 percent. Students from Uzbekistan made up the second-largest group at 18.3 percent, followed by students from China at 13.1 percent, Mongolia at 6.5 percent, Japan at 0.8 percent and the United States at 0.3 percent.

In a separate survey of 98 companies that participated in the job fairs, 57 percent of them were open to hiring foreign employees due to challenges in recruiting local talent. Twenty-two percent of them cited a desire to diversify the talent within their workforce, while 17 percent aimed to expand into new international markets by doing so.

When asked about future recruitment plans, 65.3 percent of the companies said they intend to expand foreign hiring over the next five years.

The Education Ministry affirmed its commitment to connecting international students who wish to work or settle down in Korea with regional companies facing labor shortages.

Measures include enhancing employment information and job counseling services on the Study in Korea website and collaborating with the K-Work platform, launched by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

With Regional Invocation System and Education (RISE), a national plan in Korea to restructure the higher education system and promote regional innovation, expanding nationwide to 17 cities and provinces this year, the ministry plans to ensure that each local government organizes job fairs tailored to the needs of international students and regional businesses.

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]