As the labor shortage in small and medium-sized export companies is worsening due to the youth's avoidance of small and medium-sized companies and the decrease in the working-age population, our trade industry has a positive perception of hiring foreigners for office work such as overseas marketing, but the high wage requirements under the current visa system are acting as an obstacle.
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA, Chairman Jin-sik Yoon) International Trade Research Institute published a report titled “Current Status and Challenges of Foreign Workforce Utilization in Overseas Marketing in the Trade Industry” on the 16th based on a survey conducted on 659 small and medium-sized export companies. According to the report, 49.5% of all responding companies said they plan to newly hire foreign office workers within the next three years, indicating sufficient demand in the industry. In addition, 27% of responding companies said they have already hired foreigners for office, administrative, and research positions (hereinafter office workers), and the hiring satisfaction was also generally high at 3.8 out of 5.
The main reasons for hiring foreigners for office work were ▲overseas market analysis (39.4%), ▲foreign language skills (20.6%), ▲overseas network (19.3%), etc., accounting for 79.2% of the total, including expertise in overseas marketing. On the other hand, only 12.7% responded that hiring was done to reduce labor costs.
When analyzing the residence qualifications of hired foreign office workers, holders of F visas, such as Resident (F-2), Overseas Koreans (F-4), and Marriage Immigrants (F-6), accounted for the largest proportion at 42.1%. This is analyzed to be because in the case of F visas, there is no separate visa burden on hiring companies and there are no restrictions on work activities. Holders of D visas, which are issued to foreign students studying in Korea, such as Students (D-2), and Job Seekers (D-10), accounted for 29.7%, which is presumed to reflect the disadvantage of long-term employment. On the other hand, only 18.5% held the 'Special Activity Visa (E-7),' which is directly related to office work.
Under the current law, foreign office workers are classified as 'Professional Personnel Visa (E-7-1)' among the Special Activity Visa (E-7). This visa includes not only office workers such as overseas salespeople, interpreters and translators, but also managers such as high-ranking executives of companies, so a wage requirement of 80% of the previous year's national GNI is applied for visa issuance. This is high considering that it is the starting salary for foreigners at 39.96 million won per year, and it is higher than the average wage for new employees at small and medium-sized enterprises, which is acting as an obstacle to the expansion of foreign office workers.
Accordingly, the report analyzed that it is necessary to ease the wage requirements by incorporating foreign office workers into the 'Semi-professional Worker Visa (E-7-2)' instead of the existing Professional Worker Visa (E-7-1). If classified as semi-professional workers, the wage requirement will be changed to 'minimum wage or higher for the current year', which can reduce the burden on companies. Instead, it advised that management positions corresponding to executive level should remain in the existing Professional Worker Visa (E-7-1) and strict wage requirements should be maintained to prevent the possibility of domestic job infringement.
Kim Kkot-byeol, a researcher at the Korea International Trade Association, emphasized, “Small and medium-sized export companies are having great difficulty securing overseas marketing personnel, so the demand for foreign workers is expected to continue to increase.” She added, “If we ease wage requirements by improving the visa system to fit reality, it will have a positive effect on alleviating the labor shortage and securing competitiveness in the entire trade industry.”
Meanwhile, the trade association is establishing a 'K-Career Master Course' to support the use of foreign workers by small and medium-sized export companies. This course selects excellent foreign students residing in Korea, connects them with our export companies, and provides on-site practical training such as ▲understanding and adapting to Korean companies ▲communication skills ▲overseas marketing ▲business document writing. In particular, this course is designed to allow our companies to directly verify the capabilities of foreign talent and improve their on-site adaptability by conducting internships during vacation periods. Participation methods and detailed information can be found on the Trade Academy website.
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