Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
More Koreans working overseas as flight attendants, cooks
By Lee Hyo-sik
Before the burst of the information technology (IT) boom in early 2000 many young Koreans used to work in Japan and other developed nations as computer software programmers and other high-tech technicians.
These days, a growing number of youngsters are working abroad as flight attendants, cooks and other service-sector jobs, the Human Resources Development Service (HRD) said Thursday.
Among the 1,571 Koreans working at jobs in foreign countries last year through the HRD overseas employment support program, 819 were hired by foreign airlines, hotels, restaurants and other service-sector businesses, up from 727 in 2008 and 700 in 2005.
Also, the number of Koreans finding jobs in the areas of textiles, agriculture, fisheries and mining surged to 463 in 2009 from 2 in 2006 and 162 in 2005.
In contrast the number of Koreans employed by foreign information technology companies declined to 166 in 2009 from 359 in 2008 and 499 in 2006.
Those finding work in machinery and metals, and the medical sectors stood at 38 and 51 last year, respectively, down sharply from 165 and 221 in 2005.
By country, China hired the largest number of Koreans at 656, followed by Australia at 249, Japan at 241, Canada at 153 and the United Arab Emirates at 48 and Qatar at 32.
“Many university graduates used to find IT-related jobs in Japan and other advanced countries. But more are now working at foreign airlines and other service-sector businesses in both developed and developing countries,” said Nam Young-kyung, deputy director of HRD’s overseas employment service team.
Nam said flight attendants, cooks and other service-sector occupations accounted for more than half of overseas employment over the past five years, projecting the trend will continue in the future.
“In particularly, many Middle Eastern airlines are hiring an increasing number of young Korean females as a stewardess. The majority of Korean jobseekers in foreign countries prefer to work and reside in the United States and other advanced countries. But it is increasingly becoming more difficult to do so because of tightening visa rules and the continuing sluggish economic conditions,” she said.
Nam stressed more Korean youths should go to China and other emerging economies where greater business opportunities are in order to be successful.