Economics Migration in South Korea - Essay Example

Economics Migration in South Korea Human migration is the semi-permanent or the permanent movement or relocation of people from one location to the other. The movement can occur domestically or internationally, any they can influence structures of economy, culture, population density, and politics. People can decide to move from one place to the other voluntary, forced or reluctant. The paper, however, concerns with the economic migration. Economic migration refers to when people migrate or move to another country for economic gains, mainly work and money (Andrew, 7). People are always in search of opportunities. Other forms of migration involve movement of people due to situations such as conflicts in their native countries or instability. The confinements of economic migration are not only to poor countries, but rich countries inhabitants can move to other nations for economic purposes. Historically and traditionally, the United States has been the hotspot of economic migrants because people consider it as the land of opportunity. However, the spread has increased to other nations as the economic times and job opportunities in America are tough. This results to search of alternative solutions. A number of countries across Europe have attracted economic migrants. Asia has also witnessed an increase in economic migrants. Specifically South Korea remains to be a safe haven for economic migrants. Development and growth of South Korea over the past decades continues to attract many migrants. Moreover, the culture and political stability of South Korea makes it more attractive to this kind of migrants. Therefore, who are economic migrants? Deriving from the definition of economic migrations, economic migrants are people who move to new nations since job opportunities and living conditions in their own nations are poor or not good enough (Andrew, 9). This word shows that a person is not a refugee whenever used by the government. Economic migrants’s sole purpose is to improve their own standards of living. However, this movement has several impacts on the host nation as it may have on the native country. Issues of migration in South Korea have diversified as the nation has transformed into one of the main safe haven countries for migrants, many of whom are from other Asian nations. There are many emerging issues like protection and communal integration of marriage migrants from South-East Asia nations like Philippines, Cambodia and Viet Nam (Andrew, 10). Moreover, reducing labor controlling flows of labor migration and minimizing the challenges related to people trafficking and irregular migration are also among the emerging issues. It is important to note the significant growth of populations from North Korea in the Republic of Korea. Over a million foreigners reside in South Korea currently; the unskilled migrants make the majority of this group. Even though the nation’s resilience on imported foreign labor will probably continue, the nation prides itself a society that is ethnically homogenous and emphasizes on nearly zero immigration policy. Nevertheless, the Korean community has become a multicultural community and the process in irreversible and inevitable. Within the last four decades, South Korea has changed from a developing and struggling nation into an industrialized and prosperous country, congratulation to its export-oriented strategy. The GNP per capita rose from $142 in 1967 to $12,646 in 2003 (Andrew, 13). The rate of unemployment dropped from 8 percent in 1963 to 4 percent in 1970 and further to 2 percent in 1989. Because of the low rate of unemployment in 1990s, the nation felt it required temporary labor to cover unskilled jobs that its natives were becoming less willing to perform. In fact, with no foreign labor, it would be almost impossible to sustain the “tiger” economy developing (Andrew, 13). The nation puts high value on its homogeneity, but this signified the beginning of tension that still goes on presently: the necessity for foreign labor against the wish to remain a purely South Korean Nation with tough policies of immigration. One of the consequences of this tension is the sharp increase in the number of unrecorded workers even as temporary workers continue to increase. Moreover, economic migrant’s number from North Korea has increased because of the poor economy of North Korea, a move that attracts national attention. Due to its geostrategic importance, South Korea has a long history of invasions, occupations, and conflicts. The location of its peninsula is vital, with Russia and China along the border on the north and Japan across the Strait of Korea. During the colonial era of the Japanese, in the early twentieth century, many Koreans left the nation for a new life in other countries. Thus, there was a large community of Koreans in Russia, China and Japan. The same is still present today. Hawaii was also a major destination for Koreans, who worked on plantations of sugar. After attaining its independence from Japan in the aftermath of WWII, Korea divided into South and North. The 1950-1953 Korean war, a core battle in the war against communism, led to upheaval in populations (Andrew, 17). It led to movement of almost ten million people from North Korea to South Korea. Most South Koreans began to move to the United States after the war, this is because the United States opened door for non-Europeans immigrants in 1965. There South Koreans went to search for education that would later boost the economy of the nation. In the 1980s and 1970s, many construction workers went to the Middle East as workers of contractors from South Korea. Many of these employees, returned to South Korea after few years with a good amount of savings. Despite the increase of foreign populations recently in South Korea, the nation is still homogenous. Many foreigners living in the country for over a period of ninety days are expected to register with the officials. This enables easy tracking of the migrants but still there are some challenges. By the closure of the year 2003, there were almost 438,000 registered migrants; this is just below one percent of the forty five million total South Korea populations. However, this figure does not include the undocumented migrants that rose sharply from one hundred thousand in 1998 to almost three hundred thousand in 2002. As of 2002, the number of undocumented workers was about 70 percent of the entire foreign labor force in South Korea. The issue of undocumented workers is a major challenge in South Korea presently (Andrew, 19). The strict controls of migration made it hard for businesses in South Korea to fill the low-level jobs with temporary legal workers by mid of 1990s. Many people from other Asian nations; China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mongolia and Philippines overstayed with their tourist visa and joined workforce. They were able to get jobs in the small manufacturing institutions, restaurants and construction. Most of these workers paid huge fees to the job agencies in South Korea and back in their nations. In the initial debates regarding the utilization of foreign labor, an essential issue was whether the requirement of labor was structural or passing phenomena. After the financial crisis in Asia that struck South Korea in 1997, it became clear that without the temporary employees, some sections in the economy of South Korea would not be feasible. Unemployment rate jumped from 2 percent in 1997 to 8 percent in 1999. This left about two million people without jobs. Nevertheless, less native employees wanted to have the “three-D” jobs-demanding, dangerous and difficulty. The net South Korea migration last measured 30000 in the year 2010. This is according to the data by World Bank. The net migration involves the total net of all migrants in the selected period. This means, total immigrant numbers less total number of emigrants annually, including both non-citizens and citizens. The data come in estimates of five years. To create the estimates of net migration, UNPD-United Nations Population Division, puts into account the history of migration of a nation or an area, the policy of migration of the nation, and refugee influx in the recent times. Data used for calculating this estimates originate from different trusted sources, including statistics of border, surveys, census, and administrative records (Andrew, 19). In case it is impossible to create official statements because of insufficient data, they obtain net migration through the balance equation. It involves the difference between the general population growth and natural growth during the intercensal period 1990-2000. South Korea has been importing quite a number of migrant employees since 1990s. In the end of 20007, the total number of foreigners registered was about 1,066,273, this account for 2 percent of the entire population. The total numbers of foreigners in South Korea increased almost three times from 38697 in 1997 (Andrew, 20). If this trend continues, the number of foreign workers in South Korea will be about 2.4 million in 2020, and by 2050, it will be 4.2 million. This will be 9.2 percent of the entire population. It could be similar to the foreign-born proportion of England residents in 2005. South Korea huge majority entered the nation with visas for work. The numbers of migrants with visas for work as of 2008 May was over 700,000. The 2008 figure represents a yearly increase of about 100,000 new entrants since 2004, when the totals were about 460,000 (Andrew, 21). Many of those entering South Korea with work visas, including over 200,000 migrants who are overstaying are unskilled migrant employees. Demand for labor from foreigners is because of wealthier and well-educated Koreans who turn away from certain categories of jobs, especially the 3-D jobs. This prompts the government of South Korea to use several schemes of importing labor to control and secure foreign employees. There is expectation for further increase in the number of foreigners due to shortage of bride is South Korea (Andrew, 31). The presence of increasing numbers of the unskilled migrant employees, together with a good number of brides from foreign nations and professional foreign employees indicates an essential loss of the proverbial picture of South Korea as a homogenous community. Even though foreigners make less than one percent of the general 48 million population of South Korea as of 2005, the nation is on its way becoming multiethnic and multiracial society. Migration economic and social effects vary widely. The sending countries can have both losses and gains in the short term, but over a long period, they gain. For the receiving countries like South Korea, temporary workers assist to address the shortage of labor but can reduce domestic wages and increase to the burden of public welfare. South Korea, specifically, has a challenge of unrecorded foreign workers. This foreigner further influences the homogenous pride of South Korea. Challenges between the South and North further complicate the matters. The relationships between the two nations are tense while many people of the North Suffer economically. The unregistered foreign workers pass over the legal system and this impact on the economy of South Korea. It is important to put measures of managing and controlling migrant workers. First, it is important to pass resolutions that prohibit repatriation of foreigners like those from North Korea (Andrew, 32). The foreign workers must have consideration or programs like Industrial trainee schemes, employment management schemes, and employment permit schemes. This will benefit both the South Korea government and the migrant workers. For the case of migrants from North Korea, Naturalization policies are essential. A review of the immigration laws is necessary to be able to document all the unregistered migrants. Apart from schemes and necessary legislations, an extensive research is necessary on the topic regarding migrant workers. First is the research on private agents of recruitment. Even though there is some information about agents in the nations sending labor, they are not properly documented on who manage on the side of receiving nation. Most of them exploit migrant workers. There is need to know specific agents and their enterprise. The second is about schemes of temporary workers. South Korea has de facto scheme of temporary workers involving migrants in the pretext of trainees (Andrew, 33). It is essential to do detailed examination of the different regulations that make up the framework of both movements of foreign workers and the conditions of the employees. The range of processes taken by recruitment agents and employers to pass labor, condition of employment nature, the guaranteeing way of temporariness by the conditions of employment, governments and agents. The third aspect is the cultural and social aspect of temporary migration. Despite the long history of the South Korean community, these are the initial moments for Korean people to stay with foreigners. It is important to know how the process of admission foreign migrants into the society of Koreans. Issues like how the culture of the migrants will conflict with the culture of Korea are important. Furthermore, it is vital to understand how Korean workmates perceive the migrant workers, and the perception of the general population towards migrants. As South Korea continues to strategically passion itself globally, economic migration will persist, challenges and turmoil in the neighboring countries poses major challenges to migration patterns in South Korea. Therefore, there is need for South Korea to prepare them basing on the previous trends for more challenges. It is important to enact proper legislation and policies in response to the increase in economic migration. This will be beneficial to both the economic migrants and the government of South Korea. Work Cited Andrew Eungi Kim. “Demography, Migration and Multiculturalism in South Korea” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 6-2-09, February 1, 2009 Read More