Almost 7 in 10 international students in South Korea who work part-time are concentrated in low-skilled service jobs, according to a brand-new report, raising fresh questions around employability as the nation pushes to retain more global talent.
A study on the socioeconomic effect of worldwide trainees in Korea, launched by the Migration Research Study and Training Center, discovered that 71.1% of global trainee employees were employed in the food and lodging sector, with the figure increasing to 81.6% among undergraduate students aged 19-24.
Only 2.4% of respondents said alignment with their discipline or future profession was a key factor when selecting part-time work. Rather, the most important consideration was finding jobs suitable with study schedules, cited by 54.4% of participants, followed by salaries at 24.8%.
The report showed that such employment was “not working as a stepping stone” for appropriate career experience, with global trainees increasingly concentrated in labour-intensive service work.
Regional disparities were likewise determined, with more than 80% of worldwide trainees in areas including Gwangju, Busan, Incheon and parts of Gyeonggi and South Chungcheong provinces used in food and hospitality tasks.
The study further found that 41.9% of global trainee workers were used informally without formally reporting their work to authorities. Scientist connected this partially to current health insurance rules, under which worldwide students lose a 50% decrease in nationwide health insurance premiums if yearly income goes beyond KRW 3.6 million (₤ 1,900-₤ 2,000), motivating some companies and students to count on money payments and verbal contracts.
41.9%of worldwide student employees were utilized informally without reporting their tasks to authorities, highlighting the prevalence of “shadow” labour practices
Migration Research and Training Center report
The findings come soon after South Korea revealed a more comprehensive “quality-focused” rethink of its global student visa policy, along with brand-new post-study pathways and skill retention procedures focused on moving beyond purely mathematical expansion.
As previously reported by The PIE News, the ministry acknowledged that previous worldwide student policy had focused too greatly on expanding numbers while inadequate attention had actually been paid to trainee quality and post-graduation integration.
“The ministry’s own files clearly acknowledge that Korea’s global trainee policy has been too focused on reaching 300,000 trainees, while quality, academic readiness and post-graduation integration have received insufficient attention,” Kyuseok Kim, director of IES Abroad’s Seoul centre, formerly told The PIE.
The ministry said its new direction would integrate “tactical quality management” with “broadened post-graduation chances” and a “growth ladder visa system” targeted at helping international trainees move more efficiently into work and long-term settlement.
The current report, nevertheless, suggests numerous worldwide trainees stay concentrated in low-skilled employment with minimal links to long-term profession development.
The report likewise discovered that many global trainees were reluctant to report labour infractions, consisting of unpaid earnings and unfair treatment, while participants pointed out language barriers, discrimination and the physical needs of manual labour as major difficulties in part-time work.
Scientist argued that worldwide students were progressively being treated as “cost-effective labor”, calling for reforms including a formalised employment management system, changes to medical insurance thresholds and alleviated reporting requirements for certified trainees with strong scholastic performance or Korean-language efficiency.
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