By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Paul Oreffice, an Italian immigrant to the United States, is a famous ``American Dream'' success story. By becoming CEO of one of the world's largest chemical companies, Dow Chemical, he proved that foreign workers don't have to settle for mediocre jobs.
Comparable success by minorities seems far from common in Korea, but experts say Asia's fourth-largest economy has stepped into the early stages of a multi-cultural society and needs to prepare for the next, starting with better job opportunities.
``Easing employment restrictions is critical to inviting a more diverse group of workers,'' said Kim Hwa-nyeon, a senior research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI).
Among many special guidelines set by the Employment Permit System, foreigners are limited from changing jobs, as they must find a new job within two months of leaving their old one, before turning ``illegal.'' Also, labor contracts must be renewed every year, but not exceed three years since the entry date to Korea.
He said it is wrong for some critics to think that there is no need to recruit foreigners, because employment patterns are directly linked to economic growth.
``If we look at the world's leading economies, they commonly have a more open employment policy for foreigners ― not just for labor work, but for white collars jobs,'' said Kim.
The think tank's data shows that foreigners took up 13 percent of the workforce in OECD countries in 2005, up from 9 percent in 1995. In Korea, the figure remains below 5 percent. Kim said those countries that provided opportunities for international workers have enjoyed stronger economic growth than others that have not.
Although given its incomparable cultural background, SERI, in its recent report titled ``The Expanding Influence of Minorities in the U.S.,'' highlighted the melting pot country as setting the most ideal standard for European and Asian countries to follow.
Almost 70 percent of workers in the American service industry were minorities, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor data from the year 2000. ``The comparatively cheap labor costs kept wages and living costs down, which led to fast growth with low inflation,'' said Kim.
Park Sung-joon, a research fellow at the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), said Korea isn't seeing similar benefits because of the severe divide with foreigners, who now make up about 2.2 percent of the entire population. ``There is no reason to shun a multi-cultural society in this global age when countries are competing to lure the smartest and most skilled talents from all over the world,'' said Park. ``Such backwardness will only deprive the country of a chance to have an extra growth engine.'' He said, however, that the generosity shouldn't be limited to the high-skilled and well-educated, but be expanded to the less-privileged because ``not everyone always starts big.''
``Farming regions need attention,'' said Park, adding that, interestingly, the far-from-capital areas are one of the fastest to globalize, as male farmers are increasingly getting married to non-Korean wives. He said foreigners and their children in the provincial districts must be provided good opportunities so that they can take root here.
The government can take measures, the SERI report suggested, by setting a foreigner employment quota for companies to follow and making racial discrimination illegal by law, but it said ``what's more urgent is getting rid of people's biased perceptions.''