Foreign worker policy in secondary labor market: A case study of South Korea

Abstract

Low-skilled or semi-skilled labors have been part of the labor market in South Korea since 2003 as the government of the Republic of Korea uses migrant registration policy to open the labor market for foreigners to work in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS). This article aimed to analyze the foreign labor policy in the Korean secondary market that influences immigration and employment, using documentary research as a qualitative research method. The research findings showed that the government of the Republic of Korea formulated foreign labor policy at an low-skilled and semi-skilled levels mainly based on the demand because the government allows the employers to ask for foreign labor import right and employment under the EPS to control the import and employment in secondary market as long as needed based on benefits at macro level of the country. On the contrary, for the Korean oversea labors who prefer to work in the secondary market in the Republic of Korea, the government chiefly uses a supply device as the government chooses and selects them to work in the secondary market by themselves. It indicates that the Korean government formulated the foreign labor policy to have foreign labors to replace the local ones in the secondary market so that they can control different foreign labor supervision.