KOREAN NET

The number of international workers in the country has surpassed the million mark for the first time. Shown are expats on July 27 in a class on Korean language and culture at Hwaseong Immigrants Community Service Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do Province. (Center's official Facebook)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

The number of foreign workers in the country has hit one million for the first time, 30% of whom earn an average of KRW 3 million or more per month.

Statistics Korea on Dec. 17 said this in releasing the results of a survey on immigrant residence and employment. As of May, the number of such laborers reached 1.01 million, up 87,000 year on year.

This is the first time for the figure to eclipse a million since the compilation of such data began in 2012.

By salary range, 489,000 foreign workers earned between KRW 2 million and KRW 3 million per month, followed by 354,000 getting KRW 3 million or more, 81,000 between KRW 1 million and KRW 2 million, and 32,000 under KRW 1 million.

By nationality, the number of employees from Vietnam rose 18.2% or 19,000 workers and that of ethnic Koreans from China grew 4.7% (15,000), but the figure for laborers from China fell 7.7% (4,000).

By age, the largest group was 30-somethings (335,000), followed by those ages 15-29 (245,000), those in their 40s (187,000), 50s (150,000) and 60s or over (92,000).

Overall satisfaction with life in Korea was highest among expats (84.3%) and naturalized citizens (86.2%), with "satisfied" being the most common response.

Among such expats, an overwhelming 90.4% said they wanted to stay in Korea, with "extension of stay" (61.6%) being the most common method for renewing their visas.

aisylu@korea.kr