Foreign workers entering the country to recover to pre-COVID levels

“There are no foreigners willing to work, so only the labor costs are skyrocketing. We are in a situation where we have to bring in even illegal immigrants.” Kim, 66, a farmer in Jeollanam-do, wept last year, saying that the daily wage given to the elderly in the neighborhood doubled to 150,000 won since the COVID-19 outbreak last year. As part of the quarantine measures, entry of foreign workers was severely restricted, and foreign workers visiting rural areas also disappeared. In fact, according to the Jeonnam Provincial Office, the number of foreign seasonal workers entering the country in the past two years has been zero, and the local manpower shortage is serious.

As the government decides to expand the entry of foreign workers (E-9), the labor shortage in rural and fishing villages and small and medium-sized manufacturers seems to be somewhat relieved, but it is unclear how quickly the industry will recover to the pre-COVID-19 level. This is because the effect varies depending on how many countries are allowed to enter the country. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are demanding that ‘the number of countries allowed to enter should be fully expanded to the existing 16 countries’ in order to quickly normalize production sites.

According to the results of the ‘Survey on the status of manpower in small and medium-sized businesses and the demand for foreign workers in 2022’ announced by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises recently, SMEs will reach 84.2% in 2020, 84.3% in 2021, and 84.3% in 2022, when their production before COVID-19 (2019) is 100%. At 91.0%, the production hit due to the shortage of manpower will not recover to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level until next year.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of foreign workers entering the country fell from 51,365 in 2019 to 6,688 last year, and only 5,145 as of August this year. During the same period, the number of foreign workers employed in farms also decreased by 81.6% from 5887 to 186. In addition, the number of people staying in Korea decreased by 58,046 from 276,755 to 218,709 during the same period as replacement workers could not fill the vacancy of foreign workers whose stay period (4 years and 10 months) had expired due to entry restrictions.

It is known that the quarantine authorities are taking a conservative stance on this, although there is a lot of demand that the number of countries that allow entry should be greatly expanded. This is because the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases may increase and act as an obstacle to the gradual recovery of daily life (with Corona) quarantine.

In the case of Singapore, based on the vaccination rate of 81%, it announced the ‘New Normal 4-Step Roadmap’ in August and significantly eased quarantine measures. The roadmap contains contents such as home treatment, minimization of large-scale follow-up, trend management such as severity rate management, and permitting overseas travel of inoculated persons.

However, since the end of September, the number of confirmed cases, led by foreign workers, has surged, and Corona 19 has begun to spread again. In the end, Singapore began strengthening quarantine measures such as mandatory telecommuting by the end of October, resumption of remote classes, and restrictions on private gatherings. An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, “Europe, such as Japan and France, are unable to easily increase the number of foreign workers entering the country.”

If the number of foreign workers entering the country significantly increases, whether domestic quarantine facilities will be able to accommodate them is a variable. Foreign workers are required to undergo a total of four COVID-19 tests and self-quarantine for two weeks before entering the country, on the day of entry, during the quarantine period, and just before the quarantine is lifted. The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Federation of SMEs have now secured a total of 900 self-quarantine facilities for foreign workers and are accepting 1,800 workers per month. The government is said to be considering the expansion of countries allowing entry, considering the maximum capacity of quarantine facilities.

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