Foreign workers under employment permit system hit record 287,000, but sector imbalances deepen

The number of foreign workers employed in South Korea under the employment permit system (E-9 visa) has surpassed 287,000, reaching a record high. Yet while 80 percent of the workforce is concentrated in manufacturing, the service sector — despite acute labor shortages — saw only 59 percent of applicants receive permits, highlighting a deepening supply-demand imbalance across industries.

According to data obtained from the Ministry of Employment and Labor by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Wi-sang of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, the number of foreign workers in South Korea under the employment permit system stood at 287,424 as of July.

The employment permit system allows small and medium-sized enterprises that cannot find domestic workers to hire foreign nationals holding non-professional employment visas (E-9).

The number of such foreign workers has consistently grown, rising from 159,463 in 2021 to 203,121 in 2022, 247,191 in 2023 and 271,925 in 2024. Last year the figure climbed to 282,839, and this year it has set a new all-time high.

By sector, manufacturing accounted for the largest share at 229,844 workers, or 80.0 percent of the total. Agriculture and livestock followed with 33,878 workers (11.8 percent), then fishing at 15,441 (5.4 percent), construction at 6,724 (2.3 percent) and services at 1,410 (0.5 percent).

As labor shortages at industrial sites worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic, the government sharply expanded its annual employment permit quota — from 69,000 in 2022 to 120,000 in 2023 and 165,000 in 2024.

However, as the cumulative number of foreign workers already in the country grew and a slowing economy reduced job vacancies, the government scaled back new admissions to 130,000 last year and 80,000 this year. Applications for employment permits also declined, but the mismatch between labor demand and permit approvals has grown more pronounced across sectors.

As of July, 38,998 employment permit applications had been filed, of which 31,986, or 82.0 percent, were approved. In the service sector, 564 applications were submitted but only 333 permits were issued, putting the approval rate at 59.0 percent — 23.0 percentage points below the overall average.

Even when a workplace applies for an employment permit because it needs workers, approval can be denied if the foreign worker's housing conditions fall below required standards, if the workplace fails to meet eligibility requirements, or if administrative processing delays arise.

In construction, applications plunged. Only 683 workers applied — roughly a third of the 2,000-person quota allocated for this year — reflecting a steep drop in demand for foreign labor amid a prolonged slump in the construction sector.

Observers say South Korea needs to move beyond simply adjusting the total number of foreign workers admitted each year and instead build a labor supply system that more precisely reflects economic conditions and hiring difficulties in each sector.

"Although the overall scale of employment permit applications has shrunk due to the economic slowdown, the concentration of workers in certain sectors and the supply-demand imbalance are in fact worsening," Kim said. "The government must move away from uniform workforce controls and build a labor supply system that can genuinely resolve sector-specific mismatches."