The report, released Friday by the Overseas Labor Center, found that in the first nine months of 2023, the rate of illegal workers in South Korea was 34.5 percent. In 2020, due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, this rate fell to 20%, before rising to 28% in 2022.
Localities with high rates of illegal workers in Korea, between 33 and 37 percent, are Hai Duong, Lang Son, Nam Dinh and Vinh Phuc provinces in northern Vietnam.
Nguyen Gia Liem, deputy head of the Overseas Labor Department, said the decline in the rate of illegal workers during the pandemic period was due to low production and low recruitment demand. In 2023, as the number of workers going abroad increased and production returned to normal, the rate of illegal workers also increased.
Vietnam and South Korea have considered measures to address the problem, such as imposing recruitment restrictions on companies that hire illegally staying workers, or fining and imprisoning illegal workers. South Korea is also considering adjusting annual recruitment quotas for countries with high numbers of illegal workers.
“Workers staying abroad illegally harm the ability of other people in the same city to go abroad,” said Bui Quoc Trinh, vice director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Affairs. social services of Hai Duong. As localities face hiring restrictions due to high numbers of illegal workers, other workers are unsure when they will be able to travel abroad, he added.
This year, workers in Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong are still barred from traveling to South Korea to work, as 83 illegal workers in South Korea came from the town. Trinh said it was difficult to convince them to return home because they have already established their own networks there.
Trinh proposed that South Korea put in place appropriate management measures to prevent this problem, citing Hai Duong’s measures that successfully managed 5,000 foreign workers as an example. When workers terminate their contract with their employer, they must inform the authorities, he said. The police also need to manage data regarding foreign workers in Vietnam, he added.
Le Van Luong, deputy director of the labor department in the northern province of Yen Bai, said most workers who go abroad have to borrow money to do so, even though their working hours are only limited. only three years. With a monthly income of around 40 million VND ($1,647), after expenses, workers can only save a few hundred million Vietnamese dong. As many workers want to improve their income, they will attempt to stay illegally and continue working.
Luong said some South Korean companies will create stay opportunities for illegal workers because they are already used to this work, meaning there will be no cost to hire someone else to follow Training.
“If the length of work stays increases, the rate of illegal workers will decrease and South Korean companies will also have the opportunity to stabilize their production,” he said.
Vietnam and South Korea have had labor supply agreements for more than 30 years. Vietnamese workers mainly come to South Korea through the Work Permit System (EPS) and work in sectors such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture and fishing. Their monthly salaries vary between 36 and 40 million VND.
Since the EPS program began in 2004, more than 127,000 workers have traveled to South Korea to work.
