Economist challenges Yoon's immigration policies
Nepalese workers arrive at Incheon International Airport, June 20. Newsis
Debate has been heating up over the government's immigration policies, including a plan to introduce a record number of foreign laborers, including construction workers and domestic workers, to tackle labor shortages caused by worsening demographic issues.
On Monday, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it plans to bring in an unprecedented 165,000 non-professional migrant workers next year under the Employment Permit System (EPS). It also plans to expand the scope of industries where foreign workers, arriving with an E-9 non-professional employment visa, can work. This expansion will now include the restaurant, mining and forestry sectors.
In terms of distribution by industry, manufacturing is set to accept the largest number of E-9 visa holders at 95,000, followed by 16,000 for agriculture and livestock, 13,000 for services, 10,000 for fishing, 6,000 for construction and 5,000 for shipbuilding. The remaining 20,000 visas will be distributed irrespective of industry, according to the ministry.
The move is facing strong backlash from critics, who argue that temporary employment of skilled foreign workers and active use of female workers are more effective in securing labor than an influx of unskilled foreign workers as pushed by the government.
In a lecture given at the Bank of Korea (BOK), Monday, Kim Sun-bin, a professor of economics at Yonsei University, directly challenged President Yoon Suk Yeol's immigration policies, saying that they will be ineffective in addressing worsening labor shortage issues.
Kim presented the results of a simulation on foreign workforce utilization policies. The simulation assumed that a certain number of foreign workers aged 25 to 44 would enter 5 percent of the domestic population over the next 200 years.
Based on the results of his study on the foreign workforce, he found that temporarily hiring skilled foreign workers is the most effective method, surpassing immigration by about 30 percent to 40 percent.
The economic impacts of four cases were analyzed in the experiment: temporary work and permanent residence of unskilled workers, and temporary work and permanent residence of skilled workers.
He also raised concerns about the social acceptance of foreign immigrants, emphasizing the potential for complex problems such as racial conflicts during their settlement.
“It's a matter of the change in composition of people, so there's a potential for intricate challenges,” he said.
Kim proposed the active use of female workers as a significant alternative to the workforce shortages, pointing out the remarkably low participation of women in economic activities from their late 30s to early 40s.
"Failing to leverage well-educated and trained female labor is a significant national loss from a broader perspective," he said.
He debunked the misconception that the fertility rate would decline further if women were encouraged to participate in the workforce. He argued that viewing childbirth and labor as opposing concepts leads to the misunderstanding that women avoid having children because of their work.
Civic group members protest a pilot project on foreign workers for housework during the labor ministry's public hearing at the Royal Hotel in Seoul, July 31. Newsis
In June, President Yoon ordered the exploration of ways to integrate and manage foreign workers. The labor ministry announced a pilot project in July, aiming to bring about 100 foreign workers from the Philippines to perform housework and child care in Seoul households.
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon also argued that relying solely on policies to boost the birth rate has its limitations, stating that the solution should be sought in immigration policy.