Seoul’s plan to welcome domestic workers will enable women to take ‘career breaks’, mayor says
- Pilot programme will allow 100 foreign helpers to work in childcare and housekeeping for at least six months
- It is South Korea’s latest move to ease labour shortages and the rising economic burden of raising children
South Korea approved a Seoul city plan on Friday to let 100 foreign domestic workers into the country through a pilot programme aimed at boosting birth rates by helping more women rejoin the workforce.
The issue sits at the confluence of South Korea’s sharply declining birth rate, ageing population, and its historical reluctance to accept more immigrants.
“Foreign domestic helpers could revitalise our society. Especially, it could immediately help with career breaks,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a Facebook post last week.
Many South Korean women face the pressure to stay home and raise families or opt not to have a child altogether due to the high cost of raising children, while the labour ministry said there is a dwindling number of young Koreans interested in domestic work.
South Korea is in talks with the Philippines as one of the potential sources of workers, with an aim to starting the pilot programme as early as December, officials said.
Priority for hiring foreign domestic workers will be given to households with working couples between their 20s and 40s, single-parent households or households with multiple children, according to the labour ministry.
The foreign domestic workers of 24 years of age or more, will be required to take language tests and will also need to go through verification for criminal records and drug tests.