Low applicant turnout delays Seoul’s foreign nanny program

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at the Seoul Metropolitan Council in Seoul, Wednesday. According to officials at the Seoul city government, about 70 foreign residents had applied for its foreign nanny program as of Wednesday. Newsis

The Seoul city government has received fewer applications than expected for its new foreign nanny program, raising concerns that services may not be available to residents until at least late summer.

The sluggish uptake highlights the complexities of addressing Korea’s deepening demographic crisis, as the city tries to ease the child care burden on working parents amid plummeting birthrates. The program’s struggles could worsen challenges for families seeking affordable child care, potentially limiting workforce participation and further depressing fertility rates over time.

As of Wednesday, only about 70 foreign residents had applied, according to officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Government — well short of the city’s goal to recruit enough workers to serve 300 households.

Of these applicants, approximately a dozen has completed training required to work as caregivers so far, officials said.

As a result, those eager to use their services will likely have to wait until August, according to officials. Originally, city officials planned to complete work training between April and May before sending the caregivers to households through its partner company, EasyTask, as early as this month.

Under the initiative co-launched in March by the city government and the Ministry of Justice, holders of one of the four designated visas ― D-2 (foreign students), D-10-1 (job-seekers), F-3 (spouses and minor children of individuals holding long-term visas) and F-1-5 (parents and family members of marriage immigrants) ― can apply to be employed as domestic workers, babysitters or both.

“The number of applications received is lower than we expected,” an official told The Korea Times. “We hope that more will start to apply when college summer breaks begin.”

The program’s low wage level is one possible reason for the lack of enthusiasm, as it offers no minimum guarantee. Unlike a similar program that allowed Korean residents in Seoul to hire Filipino caregivers at the legal minimum wage, participants in the new project can be paid less, as compensation is based on private contracts.

Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates, “This act shall neither apply to any business or workplace in which only the employer’s blood relatives living together are engaged nor to servants hired for the employer’s domestic works.”

Although the law applies to both citizens and noncitizens, most Koreans would avoid such jobs in favor of better available options. Critics have accused policymakers of attempting to exploit this legal loophole to create a supply of cheap labor.

City officials said they will nonetheless press ahead with the experimental program until the end of this year without changing its design.

“One of the policy objectives we have is to give more options to both service providers and users. It is one of the programs they can take advantage of if they wish to,” an official said. “We will continue to push forward with the project until the year’s end. And then, early next year, we will conduct a review, including considering whether it would be sustainable.”

Speaking at the Seoul Metropolitan Council on Thursday, Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the project is part of the city government’s efforts to prepare the city for the looming challenge of labor shortages amid Korea’s persistently low birthrate.

“We’re going to be facing an absolute labor shortage in the future, and we need to continue to do things like pilot projects to prepare for that,” Oh said.