Fast Aging South Korea Prepares to Open Doors to Foreign Maids

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea on Friday approved a plan for the city of Seoul to allow 100 foreign domestic workers into the country through a pilot program aimed at boosting birth rates by helping more women re-enter the workforce. labor force.

The issue sits at the confluence of the sharply falling birth rate, the aging population and its historic reluctance to accept more immigrants.

“Foreign domestic workers could revitalize our society. Especially, they could immediately help in professional disruptions,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a Facebook post last week.

Many Korean women face pressure to stay home and raise families or choose not to have a child due to the high cost of raising children, while the Ministry of Labor said there are a dwindling number of interested Korean youths. in housework.

South Korea is in talks with the Philippines as one of the possible sources of workers with the goal of starting the pilot program in December, officials said.

Under current rules, only certain foreigners, such as spouses of Korean citizens and ethnic Koreans, can work as domestic workers.

The government estimates that the current market price for full-time domestic workers living with host families is around 3.5 million won ($2,600) to 4.5 million won per month.

The new plan is the latest in a series of government efforts to reverse the declining birth rate in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

South Korea reported the the lowest in the world fertility rate again in 2022, with the average number of babies expected per woman at 0.78, and Seoul even lower at 0.59.

Among the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average rate was 1.59 in 2020.

Meanwhile, the influx of foreign settlers into the country as a percentage of its population is among the lowest in the OECD.

Responding to criticism that the government is importing cheap labor amid already poor conditions for domestic workers, officials said immigrant workers would be guaranteed the same minimum wage of 9,620 won as Koreans.

“There is no single solution to the low birth rate,” Oh said. “The point is to leave all possibilities open as we face this crisis of demise of our country.”

Dozens of civic groups have urged the government to scrap the plan, saying it should focus instead on reducing the country’s long working hours.

“Parents need more time to spend with their children, not someone to outsource to raise them,” said Park Min-ah, co-director of the civic group Politicalmamas.

(1 dollar = 1,322.1800 won)

(This story has been rearchived to correct the time in paragraph 5)

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