The government decided to cut the number of foreign workers entering next year on the Employment Permit System non-skilled work visa (E-9) to 80,000, 50,000 fewer than this year's 130,000. It also decided to scrap the shipbuilding-only foreign visa quota.
The government said on the 22nd that it held a Foreign Workforce Policy Committee meeting and finalized the plan to introduce and operate the E-9 for next year. Next year's E-9 quota is the smallest in four years since 2022's 69,000. The quotas were 120,000 in 2023, 165,000 in 2024, and 130,000 in 2025, staying above 100,000 over the last three years.
The government said, "The surge in demand for foreign workers immediately after COVID-19 has been largely met." It added, "The scale of employment permit issuance has stabilized to pre-pandemic levels, and we also took into account the recent decrease in job vacancies in manufacturing and construction."
By industry, the manufacturing quota will be 50,000, down a little over 20,000 from this year's 72,000. Agriculture and livestock will be 10,000, the same as this year. Fisheries will be 7,000, down 1,500 from this year's 8,500. Construction will be 2,000, the same as this year. Services will be 1,000, reduced to one-third the previous level. The flexible allocation that can be assigned without regard to industry will be 10,000, one-third of this year's 32,000.
The shipbuilding-only quota will be eliminated next year. The shipbuilding quota was introduced temporarily from Apr. 2023 to the end of this year by the previous administration to address labor shortages in shipbuilding. It was set at 5,000 in both 2023 and 2024, and 2,500 this year.
In the shipbuilding industry, concerns over labor shortages led to calls to extend the shipbuilding quota period. In response, the government decided to create a "shipbuilding workforce supply-and-demand task force (TF)." After continuously monitoring supply and demand on shipbuilding sites, the government will prepare related measures if labor runs short.
The government will also raise the cap on additional foreign hires by manufacturing companies outside the Seoul metropolitan area from 20% to 30%. Currently, the number of foreign workers a company can employ is determined in proportion to the number of Korean employees. For example, if there are 101–150 Korean employees, up to 40 foreign workers can be hired, and if there are 301 or more, the cap is 80. Manufacturing companies outside the metropolitan area were allowed to hire an additional 20% on top of that, and this ratio will be increased to 30%.