The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) announced on Nov. 7 that a total of 14,359 production workers were injected into the Korean shipbuilding industry through the first three quarters of this year. The workers included Korean workers, foreign specialized workers with E-7 visas and non-professional foreign workers with E-9 visas. The figure exceeded 14,000 which the Korean shipbuilding industry is expected to need by the end of this year.
As for the Korean workforce, the MOTIE trained a total of 2,146 people through the third quarter. Among them, 2,020 were hired by the Korean shipbuilding industry.
The MOTIE and the Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association completed employment referrals for a total of 7,765 specialized foreign workers with E-7 visas by the end of the third quarter. The MOJ completed visa screenings for 6,966 of them. They are currently in the field.
As for non-professional foreign workers with E-9 visas, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) issued employment permits to a total of 5,373 workers through the third quarter. They are currently being recruited by small and medium-sized Korean shipbuilders.
In addition, the Korean government plans to expand the supply of foreign labor by converting E-9 shipbuilding workers who meet requirements such as job skills and Korean language skills into skilled laborers with E-7-4 visas.
“As shipbuilding orders are on the uptick and Korean shipbuilders have a lot of work left to be done, we need to secure production manpower for smooth shipbuilding and ship exports,” a Korean government official said. “We will support the industry’s human resources development through continuous system improvements such as the E-7 visa for training and expanded employment for international students in Korea.”
“To support the stable settlement of foreign workers in Korea, we plan to check the status of foreign workers and the operation of social programs for them by Korean companies,” he added.