More Pakistani employees will be hired in South Korea in the upcoming years. The number of Pakistani labourers who entered South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS) in 2022 topped 1,600 as of the end of November 2022. Due to COVID-19's effects and restrictions, Pakistani employees have been unable to enter Korea for the past two years. The Pakistan EPS Centre is working closely with the Overseas Employment Corporation of Pakistan (OEC) to facilitate their rapid admission.

The EPS Centre is now working toward its goal of bringing in 2,000 Pakistani labourers to South Korea this year. In the 15 years since the creation of the Pakistan EPS Center through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2006, about 13,000 people have overall entered South Korea from Pakistan. This year, there are much more people entering the country than there were in past years.

Meanwhile, in order to employ more Pakistani workers and improve their chances of finding employment in South Korea, the Korean Embassy in Pakistan and Ambassador Suh Sang-pyo have proposed to the Korean government to include the construction sector as a viable occupation in addition to the current manufacturing sector within the Employment Permit System. The quota for Pakistan has been greatly expanded this year as a consequence of the ongoing efforts of the embassy and the EPS Center, and it is anticipated that there will be up to 1,600 additional candidates for the EPS-Topik.

Some 16 different nationalities are employed in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (E9), and during the last 18 years, foreign employees have significantly reduced the labour shortage faced by Korean small and medium-sized businesses, and contributed to the balanced growth of the Korean economy. The nationalities employed in South Korea include Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, China, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and East Timor.

The Korean Embassy in Pakistan is planning a number of public diplomacy events to coincide with the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Pakistan in 2023. The UCC Contest for Successfully Returned Employees will also be conducted in 2023 in an effort to learn more about the experiences and success stories of Pakistani workers who successfully returned from South Korea. Through the Employment Permit System, there are now roughly 253,000 foreign employees in South Korea; 3,100 of them are from Pakistan.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk