7 out of 10 companies in Korea willing to hire foreign workers

Majority of companies in Korea are willing to hire foreign employees, according to a recent survey. gettyimagesbank

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Nov 14, 2024 3:36 PM KST
• Updated Nov 15, 2024 3:35 PM KST

Seven out of 10 companies in Korea are willing to hire foreign workers, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by the country’s employment platform operators, Thursday.

The large percentage can be attributed to the growing scarcity of local workers in the Korean job market. Additionally, workplaces in Korea that have become more accustomed to hiring foreign employees have also played a role in the survey's results, according to the operators.

Saramin and foreigner-friendly KoMate surveyed 557 local companies and found that 73.4 percent of them “are willing to hire” foreign nationals. Companies with between 50 and 100 employees made up the largest proportion at 74.5 percent, followed by companies with fewer than 50 employees at 73.9 percent, those with between 100 and 300 employees at 71 percent, and companies with 300 or more employees at 66.7 percent.

Over 44 percent of all respondents reported either hiring or currently employing at least one foreign worker. Among them, 61 percent said they were "satisfied," and 11.7 percent were "very satisfied" with their foreign employees.

Companies facing worker shortages were much more inclined to hire foreign workers than those not experiencing such challenges. Among the 386 companies facing worker shortages, 84.2 percent indicated they would hire foreign employees. In contrast, only 49.1 percent of the remaining respondents expressed the same intention.

Most companies willing to hire foreign workers cited a lack of sufficient Korean job applicants, with 60.1 percent mentioning this as a reason. Other major factors, when multiple answers were allowed, included the perception that "foreign workers are more diligent and less likely to quit than Koreans" (27.1 percent), "the company sells products overseas or plans to do so" (19.1 percent), "wages for foreign workers are lower" (18.1 percent), and "the company is already employing foreign workers" (8.1 percent).

Manufacturing was the field that showed the highest interest in hiring foreigners (42.5 percent), followed by service (16.1 percent), sales and international marketing (12 percent), construction (11.7 percent) and IT and data (8.6 percent).

Companies showed a preference for specific nationalities when hiring foreign employees. Vietnamese nationals ranked highest, with 31.3 percent of companies preferring them. They were followed by Kazakhs and other Central Asian nationals (20 percent), Filipinos (18.6 percent), Mongolians (16.1 percent), Americans or Canadians (8.8 percent), and Indians and Japanese nationals (8.6 percent each).

The biggest inconvenience companies cited when hiring foreign workers was communication in Korean, with 56.2 percent pointing to this issue. This was followed by complicated visa and other administrative procedures (40.2 percent), lodging and other mandatory additional costs (28.5 percent), difficulty in assimilating into Korean organizational culture (25.3 percent), and lower proficiency or expertise compared to Koreans (18.1 percent).

Nearly 50 percent of the respondents said Korea needs to improve working visa regulations to attract more foreign workers. They also emphasized the need for stronger Korean language and culture education programs, more rigorous background checks on foreign job applicants, and easier access for companies to find foreign talent.