Foreign Workers: Korea Playing Catch-up

Affected by demographic change, both South Korea and Japan are in need of foreign workers. Each country has struggled with opening up to immigrants, but according to official numbers South Korea is lagging behind its larger neighbor somewhat and only recently made a significant push to accept more foreign workers.

In the year 2023, South Korea's number of foreign workers rose to 923,000, a 9 percent increase from 2022, after having stagnated for some years prior. The country raised its quota for E-9 work visas, which include lower-skilled workers, to 120,000 last year and will increase the number once more to 165,000 in 2024.

Japan's number of foreign workers has risen much more over the past decade or so and increased by 12 percent once again between 2022 and 2023, surpassing the two million mark. Like in Korea, these changes haven't been without controversy in the country whose society is still often described as homogeneous and closed-off. Japan is a much larger country than South Korea and is 1.5 bigger than its neighbor in terms of population. Japan will therefore have more foreign workers than Korea in total, however, both countries see the need to grow their foreign worker populations and do so more quickly then they have before.

According to The New York Times, lower-skilled workers in South Korea often come from nations like Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, the Philippines and Bangladesh, work in smaller factories or in agriculture and often endure bad working conditions. Like in Japan, they have often been classified as trainees which doesn't give them full workers rights. Only 3 percent worked at Korea's large companies of more than 300 employees in 2023, which like Japan's are known for their cutthroat workplace culture. In Japan, most foreign workers hold jobs in manufacturing followed by the service industry.