South Korea looks to Foreign Workers to Solve Demographic Crisis

Unable to arrest falling birthrate, Seoul turns overseas to secure labor

TOKYO -- With South Korea's fertility rate falling at the world's fastest pace and 280 trillion won ($212 billion) or so in government spending over the past 15 years doing little to arrest the decline, one of the world's most ethnically homogenous nations is now recruiting more workers from overseas.

At least partly because of the fertility crisis, one expert predicts that populous Indonesia and Nigeria will overtake South Korea in terms of economic size by 2050, pushing the East Asian nation out of the group of the 15 biggest economies. Another pessimistic view has it that South Korea might disappear as a nation by 2750 if the number of children continues to fall at the current pace.

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent trying to engineer a reversal, the country's birthrate continues to fall, with the average number of children a South Korean woman gives birth to during her lifetime hitting a record low of 0.78 in 2022. In Seoul, the number was as low as 0.59.

While a few conglomerates dominate South Korea's economy, 99% of local companies are relatively small. But the low salaries they pay and grueling work they require make them unpopular among young Koreans. As a result, the agriculture, livestock and fisheries, and manufacturing industries cannot find enough hands.

Now the government is looking for more foreign workers.

South Korea had about 49,000 long-staying foreign nationals in 1990, but the number of foreign residents, including those staying for less than 90 days, increased to 2.52 million by the end of 2019, making up 4.9% of a population of about 51 million.

About 40% of these foreigners are Chinese, mostly people of Korean descent. Korean Chinese are in great demand because they speak the same language and share a similar diet. Vietnamese form the second largest group, followed by Thais.

In 2004, South Korea began accepting low-skilled foreign workers. Under the program, the government controls the entire process of employment -- from hiring recruits, placing them in jobs, then sending them back to their home countries. The program covers a range of regions and sectors, including manufacturing, construction, agriculture and animal husbandry, services, and fisheries.

In a move one expert calls an "opening up" of the labor market, South Korea has prepared various ways to help foreign workers become permanent residents.

Foreign workers can now gain legal domicile or permanent resident status through international marriage, which makes them official immigrants. The number of marriages between foreign workers and South Korean citizens has increased sharply since 2000, with one in 10 marriages now involving foreigners, mostly Chinese or Vietnamese.

When naturalized citizens remarry with foreigners after divorce or a partner's death, the new spouse automatically becomes a South Korean citizen. The number of men from Southeast Asia who have gained citizenship this way has risen sharply, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The government's extensive support has been key to increasing the number of foreign workers who have become permanent residents or made South Korea their domicile, said Ikumi Haruki, a Seigakuin University professor who wrote a book on South Korea's immigration policy.

"South Korea offers free Korean language courses at 319 locations across the country," Haruki said.

Since the 2000s, South Korea has developed various programs to aid foreign residents, such as consultation services and language education. The support centers, set up across the country, offer Korean lessons to be taught by certified specialists using textbooks prepared by the government.

But there are problems. Large budgetary allocations to support immigrants and children of international marriages have become targets of public resentment. Despite their relatively high wages, foreign workers often have to work long hours; they also face discrimination and harassment stemming from the country's traditional labor practices.

Still, South Korea remains an attractive place to work for young Southeast Asians with global aspirations, thanks partly to their familiarity with South Korean companies and products. The global appeal of K-pop and South Korean TV dramas also plays a part in drawing young people to the country, according to pundits.

Despite some shortcomings, South Korea's foreign labor policy offers valuable lessons on how to ease the economic impact of a falling fertility rate.