Nearly 30 pct of foreign laborers in S. Korea work over 50 hours per week

SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 3 out of 10 foreign employees in South Korea worked 50 hours or longer per week last year, data showed Wednesday.

A total of 1.43 million foreigners aged 15 and older resided in South Korea as of May 2023, and 64.5 percent of them have a job here, according to Statistics Korea.

Of the foreign workers, 56.5 percent, the largest share, were found to have worked 40 to 50 hours per week, and 28.6 percent said their weekly working hours came to 50.

Some 50.6 percent of all the foreign employees here earned 2 million won (US$1,443) to 3 million won per month, and 35.8 percent of them had more than 3 million won of monthly income.

Six out of every 10 foreign income laborers here voiced satisfaction with their jobs in South Korea.

About 12.3 percent of them said they want to change their jobs, and they cited low income as a primary reason.

Around 31.8 percent of the total foreigners in South Korea remained economically inactive, and 3.7 percent were unemployed while seeking a job.

Of the total foreigners residing in South Korea for more than three months, ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality accounted for 33 percent of the total, the largest share, and those from Vietnam took up 14.1 percent.

The proportion of foreigners from non-Asian countries came to 9.7 percent.

Some 386,000 individuals of the total foreigners were overseas Koreans, and 269,000 stayed here for employment in non-professional areas, the data showed.

graceoh@yna.co.kr
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