Foreign workers, work hard for low wages in Korea.

It was found that the majority of foreign workers in Korea receive lower wages and perform more dangerous work than domestic workers.

According to the 'Results of the Immigrant Residence Status and Employment Survey' announced by Statistics Korea on April 17, the average monthly wage of foreign workers was '2 to 3 million won', which was the largest at 50.6%, while only 35.8% of those earned 'more than 3 million won'. More than half of foreign workers receive wages around 2.06 million won, Korea's minimum wage. The number of foreigners earning less than 2 million won was found to be 13.6%.

When looking at foreigners receiving wages of 2 to 3 million won by residency status, the most common were non-professionals (66.5%), professionals (53.9%), and visiting workers (51.5%). On the other hand, 88.0% of international students were found to receive a monthly salary of less than 2 million won.

This is because international students are unable to find full-time employment due to their residency status and work part-time.

Low-wage foreigners also experience economic difficulties

On the other hand, 6 out of 10 foreign workers (58.6%) who wanted to change jobs were found to want to change jobs due to low wages and difficult work.

Last year, the proportion of all foreign workers wishing to change jobs was 12.3%. The most common reason was 'because the wages are low' (39.2%), followed by 'because the work is difficult or dangerous' (19.4%). There were many foreigners who said they experienced financial difficulties due to low wages. Last year, 13.5% of foreigners staying in Korea said they experienced financial difficulties.

Among them, the proportion of international students (21.5%) was the highest, followed by visiting employment (16.3%) and overseas Koreans (14.8%). In particular, 46.4% of overseas Koreans and 43.0% of working foreigners responded that they did not receive medical treatment due to the burden of hospital costs.

77% of salary is spent in Korea

Nevertheless, foreign workers' job satisfaction was found to be high. 62.6% of foreign workers responded that they were satisfied with their work life, while 3.7% were dissatisfied. Among them, the satisfaction rate (71.1%) of non-professional workers was relatively high, which is because compared to other statuses of residence, non-professional workers come from countries with a relatively low economic level and their wages are also high compared to their home countries.

It turns out that most of the money earned from working in Korea is spent domestically. Living expenses (39.4%) were the highest proportion of foreigners' total income, followed by domestic and overseas remittances (23.2%), savings (15.7%), and housing expenses (11.8%).

Foreign workers send only 23.2% of their salary overseas, proving once again that the claim made by some that most of the money they earn will be sent back to their home country and will not be of much help to the domestic economy is not true.

Mary Eve of Papaya Story