80% of E-9 workers are in manufacturing industry

(123rf)
(123rf)

The number of foreign workers in South Korea under the E-9 employment program reached a record 287,424 in July, but four in five remained concentrated in manufacturing, government data showed Wednesday.

The figure has risen steadily from 159,463 in 2021 to 203,121 in 2022, 247,191 in 2023, 271,925 in 2024 and 282,839 last year, according to Labor Ministry data submitted to Rep. Kim Wi-sang of the main opposition People Power Party.

Introduced in 2004, the Employment Permit System allows small and mid-sized businesses unable to recruit locally to hire nonprofessional foreign workers on E-9 visas.

South Korea currently recruits workers from 17 countries under the program. The Labor Ministry said in August that Kazakhstan would become the 18th sending country beginning in 2028.

The annual E-9 admission quota remained at around 50,000 for years before rising to 69,000 in 2022 as industries faced labor shortages following COVID-19 pandemic-era border restrictions. It increased to 120,000 in 2023 and a record 165,000 in 2024.

The government subsequently reduced the quota to 130,000 in 2025 and 80,000 this year amid weaker labor demand and a growing number of E-9 workers already in the country.

Despite the record workforce, Kim said its heavy concentration in certain industries showed that the allocation system needed to be overhauled.

Manufacturing accounted for 80 percent of all workers under the program, followed by agriculture and livestock farming at 11.8 percent, fisheries at 5.4 percent, construction at 2.3 percent and services at 0.5 percent.

Across all industries, 82 percent of employers’ requests for foreign workers had been approved as of July. The approval rate was only 59 percent in services, while construction employers had requested just one-third of the workers allocated to the sector for the year.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com