A girl reads a brochure for a job truthful for overseas residents in Korea in southern Seoul, Nov. 20. Yonhap
The variety of overseas staff in Korea surpassed 1.1 million in 2025 to achieve a report excessive, with the proportion of employed worldwide college students additionally sharply up, a survey confirmed Thursday.
As of Could, there have been 1.69 million foreigners aged 15 or older residing in Korea, up 8.4 p.c from a yr earlier, in accordance with the survey performed by the Ministry of Knowledge and Statistics.
Amongst them, greater than 1.1 million folks had been employed, rising 9.8 p.c on-year. The determine was the very best because the ministry started compiling such information in 2017.
Of these employed, the variety of worldwide college students jumped by 23,000, or 71.8 p.c, to 56,000 as the general variety of college students coming to review in Korea elevated amid the worldwide recognition of Korean tradition and authorities insurance policies to draw extra worldwide college students.
The variety of non-professional staff rose 6.1 p.c to 321,000 {and professional} staff climbed 25.7 p.c to 82,000, whereas the variety of staff with everlasting residence visas went up 17.1 p.c to 123,000.
By nationality, there have been 341,000 Chinese language nationals with ethnic Korean background working right here, 149,000 Vietnamese staff and 54,000 Chinese language staff.
By age, some 33 p.c of overseas staff right here had been of their 30s, adopted by 25.7 p.c aged between 15 and 29, and 18.7 p.c of their 40s.
Almost 45 p.c of all overseas staff in Korea had been within the manufacturing and mining industries, whereas 20.4 p.c had been within the retail, wholesale, lodging and meals companies sectors.
Some 9 p.c had jobs within the agro-fisheries sector and one other 9 p.c had jobs within the development sector.
The employment price of foreigners got here to 65.5 p.c this yr, up 0.8 proportion level from 2024, whereas the unemployment price additionally added 0.7 proportion level to six.4 p.c.
Greater than half of overseas wage staff acquired a median month-to-month wage of between 2 million received ($1,353) and three million received, whereas 36.9 p.c had a month-to-month wage of over 3 million received.
Almost 70 p.c of the wage staff mentioned they had been glad with their job right here.
In the meantime, the variety of foreigners aged 15 or above granted naturalization in Korea stood at 52,000 this yr, up 1,000 from 2024, in accordance with the survey.
