Korea opens workforce agency for shipbuilders in Indonesia

HD Hyundai Chairman Kwon Oh-gap, front row center, poses with overseas workers at a shipbuilding site in the southeastern city of Ulsan, March 27. Courtesy of HD Hyundai

Korea has opened its first overseas shipbuilding workforce training center in Indonesia to help migrant workers be immediately deployed to production sites in Korea amid growing concerns over a labor shortage, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday.

Under the initiative, the ministry opened the center in Serang, Indonesia. The facility will offer training on the Korean language and shipbuilding technical skills to cultivate a larger overseas labor force that can meet worker demand at Korea's domestic shipbuilding sites, the ministry said.

The decision came in response to a massive workforce outflow in Korea's shipbuilding industry amid a prolonged economic downturn. In recent years, major shipbuilders have faced significant challenges in workforce supply.

In 2023, the government supplied about 16,000 production workers to the shipbuilding industry by improving visa systems and enhancing workforce training. However, the industry continues to call for the need to hire more quality foreign skilled workers.

The Korean shipbuilding industry has won ship orders of 39.12 million compensated gross tonnage, which is equivalent to 100 ships. This requires around three to four years of work. In particular, the industry seeks to achieve a major rebound by improving management and industrial structure and winning more orders for high-value-added ships.

The ministry's latest initiative comes against this backdrop. It teamed up with Indonesia's Ministry of Manpower and the Korea Offshore and Shipbuilding Association for around five months before making the latest announcement.

The new training center will initially focus on instructing about 30 to 40 individuals on welding technologies and the Korean language over the next three months. Trainees will also need to obtain welding certifications and meet a certain level on a language proficiency test. Both countries also run a safety education program for the sustainable operation of the program.

The Indonesian government will handle recruitment and conduct training, while the Korean authority will be in charge of dispatching experts in both areas.

"Starting from the pilot operation of the center, we will keep improving its role and widening the number of trainees," an official from Korea's trade ministry said.

"The authority also has plans to expand the drive to other countries. The ministry also has plans to review institutional support measures by linking it with an official development assistance and simplifying visa issuance, and will keep introducing other measures to boost the drive through consultations with relevant authorities."