외국인 경제활동인구 100만 돌파…제조업 고용 ‘주춤’
More foreigners now have jobs in Korea than in years gone by.
This is partly because of the rise in the number of foreign residents in the country.
But, when it comes to their employment rate compared to Koreans, it’s a different story.
Lee Ji-won reports.
There are more foreign nationals working in Korea this year, but their employment rate has fallen drastically.
According to Statistics Korea, 960-thousand of foreigners were employed in Korea as of May,… among the 1-point-4-million foreigners ages 15 and over who live in the country and are eligible to work.
That’s an increase of 2-point-6 percent, or about 25-thousand.
Still, the rate of growth is much slower than in the past two years,… when it was increasing by double digits,… recording just over 10-percent in 2015.
The agency attributes the sharp decline this year to a sluggish economy, slowing exports and the government’s ongoing corporate restructuring drive.
For example… although more than 45 percent of foreign workers are employed in manufacturing,… the industry only hired a thousand people this year,… as opposed to the 18-thousand jobs added in 2015.
That was followed by the retail and wholesale industries and the restaurant and accommodation business,… which add up to nearly 20-percent,… followed by private businesses and public services.
Nearly 50-percent of foreign workers received a monthly income of between 1- and 2-million Korean won, or between 890 and 17-hundred U.S. dollars.
Ethnic Koreans from China represented the largest proportion of foreign workers in the country, or 46-percent, followed by workers from Vietnam.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages
Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang
Homepage: http://www.arirang.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld
Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld
Follow Us!