Greater than 4 out of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea wish to rent extra international employees and see the utmost annual quota raised, a survey confirmed Wednesday.
The survey, carried out by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF), comes as SMEs more and more battle to safe home labor, with greater than six out of 10 saying they depend on international employees to fill the hole.
The ballot coated 312 firms with fewer than 300 staff within the manufacturing, development and repair sectors. These areas are closely reliant on guide labor and have been hiring international employees below the Employment Allow System with E-9 visas.
Among the many 312 corporations, 45.2 % mentioned future quota for international employees needs to be increased than this yr’s, which presently stands at 130,000, down from an all-time excessive of 165,000 in 2024.
One other 43.6 % mentioned the quota ought to stay the identical, 8.3 % mentioned it ought to lower and a couple of.9 % supported eradicating the cap solely.
By business, 46 % of producing corporations and 48 % of development corporations mentioned the variety of E-9 visa employees needs to be elevated.
Within the service sector, 52.8 % of firms favored sustaining the present stage.
When requested why they rent international labor, 61.5 % cited difficulties in recruiting home employees, up from 34.5 % in 2024. Different causes included decrease labor prices at 21.5 % and decrease turnover at 7.7 %.
“The info means that SMEs will not be hiring international employees merely to avoid wasting prices, however due to labor shortages that straight have an effect on their survival,” a KEF official mentioned.
Concerning coverage enhancements, 46.2 % of survey individuals steered a extra versatile workforce provide that responds quickly to altering financial situations, 38.1 % steered extra versatile international employee keep intervals and 26.6 % steered increasing the variety of international employees.
“Overseas employees have already develop into important personnel at home industrial workplaces. There’s a must shift to a versatile international labor provide system that may rapidly reply to on-site demand,” the official added.
