Graphics by Yang In-Sung. / Chosunilbo

A sewing factory in Chilgok County of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, hired 10 foreign employees since last spring, but most left the factory within a month. The factory has since been seeking new hires through staffing agencies.

“The majority of foreigners who come to us for jobs say they prefer working in the Seoul metropolitan area,” said a staffing agency employee in Guro District, Seoul. A recurring comment from foreigners is “I don’t like buses, I like the subway,” according to the employee. In contrast to the Seoul metropolitan area, which is well connected through an extensive subway network, rural areas depend on buses that come and go in less frequent intervals.

“Companies in rural areas with inconvenient public transportation and lack of culture and amenities have a hard time finding foreign employees.”

Foreign workers in Korea are flocking to the Seoul metropolitan area, exacerbating labor shortages in rural areas. The government has raised the number of foreign workers allowed into the country to address labor shortages in rural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The number of E-9 nonprofessional work visa holders rose from 69,000 in 2022 to 120,000 last year. This number is expected to reach 165,000 by the end of 2024. However, SMEs in rural regions still struggle to find workers as E-9 visa holders increasingly head to the capital city.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor revised the rules so that E-9 and E-7 visa holders can only change workplaces within the same region. For instance, foreign workers who received E-9 visas to work for companies in Jeolla Province are now restricted to switching jobs only within similar industries in the same region. Until last year, E-9 visa holders could move to any company in the country as long as it was in the same industry.

Experts are concerned that these changes may not effectively address the problem at hand and could inadvertently lead to a rise in illegal immigration.

The total number of foreigners who were living in South Korea for more than three months stood at 1.43 million as of May last year, according to Statistics Korea. Approximately 60.7 percent of these foreigners reside in the Seoul metropolitan area. Gyeonggi Province accounted for 34.6 percent, followed by Seoul at 20 percent.

SMEs in rural areas have lamented that the government’s efforts to increase foreign labor have not eased their labor shortage woes.

A foundry in Gyeongsang Province recently hired four foreign employees from Myanmar, but two of them were absent without leave within a month, claiming to be sick. “These workers often contact their acquaintances or employment brokers in the capital city to switch jobs,” said the owner of the foundry. “We’ve been having trouble finding both Korean and foreign workers,” he added.

Similarly, a plastic manufacturer in South Jeolla Province complained that foreign employees typically requested to be transferred to a workplace closer to the Seoul metropolitan area after obtaining identification cards for foreign residents. “Many foreign employees treat workplaces with employment permits as a ‘passport’ to move to the capital city,” said the president of the company.