Credit: Public domain.
South Korea’s vaunted manufacturing industries have been enjoying strong demand, but the lack of skilled laborers makes it difficult to take full advantage of the tailwind.
According to a May 29 statement by Korea Federation of Small and Mid-sized Enterprises 중소기업중앙회, small and mid-sized companies collectively were short 320k laborers.
The shortage is largely because of the absence of migrant workers. Due to travel restrictions from the pandemic, migrant workers - who make up 10% of workers at small manufacturing shops in the country - have stopped entering South Korea for the past several years.