The number of foreigners residing in the country has exceeded 1.56 million, hitting an all-time high. The number of employed foreigners also surpassed 1 million for the first time, indicating their growing presence in the labor market. Foreign workers still have a high proportion of temporary and daily positions, with average monthly wages concentrated between 2 million and 3 million won.
According to the results of the '2024 Immigrant Residence and Employment Survey' released by Statistics Korea on the 17th, as of May this year, there are 1.561 million foreigners aged 15 and older residing domestically, an increase of 9.1% (130,000 people) from the previous year. Among them, the number of employed individuals rose by 87,000 to 1.01 million, marking the first time that the number of foreign workers has surpassed 1 million.
The increase in foreign employment is largely influenced by the expansion of employment visas. The growth, which slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, rebounded with last year's expansion of the non-professional employment (E-9) visa quota.
By nationality, ethnic Koreans from China were the largest group with 341,000 individuals, followed by Vietnamese with 123,000. By residency status, non-professional workers numbered 302,000, followed by overseas Koreans (258,000) and permanent residents (105,000).
By industry, foreign workers in mining and manufacturing accounted for nearly half of the total at 461,000. This was followed by wholesale, retail, accommodation, and food services (191,000), and business, personal, and public service sectors (144,000).
By employment status, 956,000 were wage workers, accounting for the majority (94.6%). Temporary and daily workers totaled 329,000, making up 34.4% of the wage workforce. The average monthly wage levels for foreign employees were most commonly between 2 million and 3 million won, with 489,000 in this range, followed by those earning over 3 million won at 354,000.
The satisfaction level of resident foreigners with life in Korea was relatively high, but experiences of discrimination persisted. While 84.3% of resident foreigners reported being satisfied with their life in Korea, 17.4% said they had experienced discrimination due to nationality, lack of Korean language proficiency, and other reasons. Only 15.3% of these cases resulted in demands for correction, and the effectiveness was reported by just 39.3%.
A considerable number of foreigners faced difficulties with their children's education. There were 875,000 resident foreigners with children, and the average number of children was 1.6. The proportion of those experiencing difficulties in their children's education was 35.7%, with the main reasons being homework assistance (53.1%), managing notices (35.9%), and learning delays (18.3%).