KOREAN NET

A survey says the entry of foreign workers in the second half of the 2010s boosted gross domestic product 0.08% per year, or about KRW 1.5 trillion. iClickArt (Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution of the above photo is prohibited under copyright law.)

By Margareth Theresia

The influx of foreign workers in the second half of the 2010s raised gross domestic product (GDP) 0.08% per year or KRW 1.5 trillion.

The Korean Association of Public Finance on March 12 said this in a paper published in the association's Korean Journal of Public Finance on the effect of foreign labor on corporate investment and employment and estimated immigration surplus.

The study's authors were Seo Young Bin, research specialist at the Performance Evaluation Administration Team of the Korea Institute of Public Finance, Kim Hyeong Jin, associate research fellow at the Migration Research and Training Centre, and Song Heonjae, professor of economics at the University of Seoul.

The paper was based on 2015-19 data from the Korea Labor Institute's business panel and Bank of Korea statistics on employee compensation ratios.

The influx of foreign workers stimulated corporate investment but had little impact on the employment of Korean nationals, the study said, adding that the economic contribution of such laborers to GDP was an estimated 0.08% or an annual average of KRW 1.5 trillion.

Skilled foreign workers had a positive effect on boosting corporate investment, but the opposite occurred when more unskilled laborers were brought from abroad, it added.

This paper is seen to have provided empirical data on immigration's role as an alternative solution to national population decline through proper policy design and execution.

margareth@korea.kr