By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff reporter
Foreign workers earn far less than Koreans with their average paycheck lower than that of the bottom 10 percent, a government report says. A more chilling fact is their meager wages are not increasing.
Most of their jobs belong in the category of "3Ds" ― dangerous, dirty and difficult ― jobs being shunned by Korean workers but still pivotal to society. Those jobs include factory work, cleaning and child care.
According to the findings by the National Tax Service (NTS), the average annual wages of a foreign worker last year who paid income tax was 13.17 million won - a decrease of 2.9 percent from the previous year's 13.56 million won.
The annual paycheck of the "bottom 10 percent" of a South Korean worker was 14.60 million won, the government agency said.
The number of foreign workers who paid income tax rose by 22.2 percent, or 62,519, to reach 344,583, last year, from 282,064 in 2007.
The NTS said the aggregate of salaries of tax-paying foreign workers stood at 4.5 trillion won in 2009.
The total has been on the rise due to an increase in the number of foreign workers.
The 2007 figure that was made available was tallied at 3.8 trillion won, meaning a 19 percent rise in two years.
"Foreign workers in South Korea are still low-paid. But they are helping the nation's economy in some parts by doing the work nobody else wants," an NTS official said.
In another finding, the NTS said the salary gap showed big differences, depending on the region and city.
The average annual income per employee working in Seoul was 33.7 million won, South Jeolla Province that was the lowest at 7 million won, the agency said.
The number of highly-paid foreign workers who make over 80 million won per year numbered 4,249, with their annual average wages standing at 278 million won.
Low-paid foreign workers are at a disadvantage in many ways.
Not only do they face financial problems because of their low earnings, but this often forces them to work longer and more unsociable hours, creating increased childcare costs for those with families.
Analysts and market watchers say their employment status means disqualification from claiming most benefits.
"Even those with the lowest wages can face such a sharp downturn in benefit eligibility that it actually costs them money to work, especially once travel and clothing costs are taken into account. Yet giving up work could attract benefit sanctions, creating a poverty trap," an industry watcher said.
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