Today's Korea Herald reported following:
Construction Industry Takes it Out on Migrant Workers
As the nation is going through deepening economic woes, not only Koreans but migrant workers are feeling the impact.
Seo Jeong-ryul, 60, an ethnic Korean from China, said the chance to take on a construction job now comes "once in a blue moon."
"I'm still looking for work," Seo said glumly at a shelter for migrant workers in Guro, southwestern Seoul. "In the past, I would have already been out working but it's already been 15 days since I was last successful in finding any work."
What is more bothering to Seo, an eight-year construction worker, is that his wife and three children back in China keep questioning him what he has done with his earned money.
"It's been six months since I last wired any money to China," he said. "Not only is it impossible to find work, but some of my employers have been late in paying me for completed work. I usually have to fight for at least half a year to get my required sum."
According to Lee Kyu-yong of the Korea Labor Institute, an estimated 170,000 ethnic Koreans from China worked in the construction field, making up 9.3 percent of the total construction workforce, in the first half of this year.
In a recent survey of domestic workers on the foreign workforce, 18 percent of the respondents believed their jobs were being taken away by migrant workers in the construction field and 40 percent answered their income level and working conditions were worsening due to the cheap labor from abroad.
In a bid to offer greater job opportunities to the domestic workforce, the Labor Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would set a quota for ethnic Koreans from China in the construction sector as early as 2010.
By regulating the construction jobs made available to ethnic Koreans from overseas, it plans to systematically control and manage that workforce, while offering more workplaces for the Korean workers.
Ethnic Koreans from overseas will have to receive government authorization to be able to perform construction work and then those workers will have to go through training sessions -- ranging from six months to a year -- at local employment support centers before being able to start work.
"This will not be a unilateral decision, which means negotiations will be held with the Justice Ministry and other related organizations before setting the quota," said Kim Young-jung, director at the regional employment development team at the ministry.
Referring to the ethnic Koreans from China as foreign workers, Kim said the figure saw a sudden increase in the past few years and that domestic workers in the construction sector were severely affected, especially in the midst of an economic downturn.
"We would have to question whether replacing all construction workers with foreign labor would be desirable, leaving the sector without any skilled or trained workers," he said. "The figure for the quota is now being discussed and the specifics will be revealed by next year."
Experts say such policy may be effective in the short-term but question marks remain on its long-term effectiveness.
Recognizing that getting a job in the construction field is competitive, which often turns out to be nearly the last resort to earn money during a financial breakdown, the continuousness of the government supervision on construction sites was a tricky and questionable topic, said Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor at Chonbuk National University in North Jeolla Province.
An official representing the Construction Association of Korea also hinted the inefficiency of the policy by emphasizing that the government should expand the positions in public workplaces, rather than trying to decrease the number of ethnic Koreans from abroad contributing in the sector.
Choi Hong-yop, a law professor at Chosun University in Gwangju, pointed out the reactions of the group of ethnic Koreans from overseas are some other factors to consider.
"Rather than trying to control the workforce already in Korea, the government should look into setting a smaller quota for those newly arriving here," he said.
Seo also said the first task laid for the government would be to talk to the ethnic Korean workers from China before taking real action.
"It will be a win-win situation if the Korean government could convince those workers to take jobs in the manufacturing field, which is far less competitive," he said. "If the government decides to go with this method, it would have to eventually grant incentives such as giving them permanent residency or Korean nationality so they can freely travel between China and Korea."
Construction Industry Takes it Out on Migrant Workers
As the nation is going through deepening economic woes, not only Koreans but migrant workers are feeling the impact.
Seo Jeong-ryul, 60, an ethnic Korean from China, said the chance to take on a construction job now comes "once in a blue moon."
"I'm still looking for work," Seo said glumly at a shelter for migrant workers in Guro, southwestern Seoul. "In the past, I would have already been out working but it's already been 15 days since I was last successful in finding any work."
What is more bothering to Seo, an eight-year construction worker, is that his wife and three children back in China keep questioning him what he has done with his earned money.
"It's been six months since I last wired any money to China," he said. "Not only is it impossible to find work, but some of my employers have been late in paying me for completed work. I usually have to fight for at least half a year to get my required sum."
According to Lee Kyu-yong of the Korea Labor Institute, an estimated 170,000 ethnic Koreans from China worked in the construction field, making up 9.3 percent of the total construction workforce, in the first half of this year.
In a recent survey of domestic workers on the foreign workforce, 18 percent of the respondents believed their jobs were being taken away by migrant workers in the construction field and 40 percent answered their income level and working conditions were worsening due to the cheap labor from abroad.
In a bid to offer greater job opportunities to the domestic workforce, the Labor Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would set a quota for ethnic Koreans from China in the construction sector as early as 2010.
By regulating the construction jobs made available to ethnic Koreans from overseas, it plans to systematically control and manage that workforce, while offering more workplaces for the Korean workers.
Ethnic Koreans from overseas will have to receive government authorization to be able to perform construction work and then those workers will have to go through training sessions -- ranging from six months to a year -- at local employment support centers before being able to start work.
"This will not be a unilateral decision, which means negotiations will be held with the Justice Ministry and other related organizations before setting the quota," said Kim Young-jung, director at the regional employment development team at the ministry.
Referring to the ethnic Koreans from China as foreign workers, Kim said the figure saw a sudden increase in the past few years and that domestic workers in the construction sector were severely affected, especially in the midst of an economic downturn.
"We would have to question whether replacing all construction workers with foreign labor would be desirable, leaving the sector without any skilled or trained workers," he said. "The figure for the quota is now being discussed and the specifics will be revealed by next year."
Experts say such policy may be effective in the short-term but question marks remain on its long-term effectiveness.
Recognizing that getting a job in the construction field is competitive, which often turns out to be nearly the last resort to earn money during a financial breakdown, the continuousness of the government supervision on construction sites was a tricky and questionable topic, said Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor at Chonbuk National University in North Jeolla Province.
An official representing the Construction Association of Korea also hinted the inefficiency of the policy by emphasizing that the government should expand the positions in public workplaces, rather than trying to decrease the number of ethnic Koreans from abroad contributing in the sector.
Choi Hong-yop, a law professor at Chosun University in Gwangju, pointed out the reactions of the group of ethnic Koreans from overseas are some other factors to consider.
"Rather than trying to control the workforce already in Korea, the government should look into setting a smaller quota for those newly arriving here," he said.
Seo also said the first task laid for the government would be to talk to the ethnic Korean workers from China before taking real action.
"It will be a win-win situation if the Korean government could convince those workers to take jobs in the manufacturing field, which is far less competitive," he said. "If the government decides to go with this method, it would have to eventually grant incentives such as giving them permanent residency or Korean nationality so they can freely travel between China and Korea."
