Addressing South Korea's Talent Exodus: Prioritizing Domestic Talent Environment Improvement

it is crucial to attract overseas talent, but this requires first improving the domestic research and work environment

South Korea faces an increasing reliance on foreign labor due to low birth rates and an aging population, yet struggles to attract high-skilled professionals. To maintain national competitiveness, it is crucial to attract overseas talent, but this requires first improving the domestic research and work environment. This article explores South Korea's talent exodus issue and potential solutions.

South Korea is evolving into a multicultural nation as the proportion of immigrants and long-term foreign residents surpasses 5%. However, the country's declining birth rate and rapid population decrease exacerbate the talent exodus problem, particularly in advanced industries such as semiconductors and IT. As of 2023, there are approximately 46,000 foreign professionals employed in South Korea, making up only 4.98% of all foreign workers. This figure has remained below 5% for nine consecutive years since dropping to 4.94% in 2014.

Competitor nations have implemented various policies to attract top talent. The United States remains a global hub for talent, while China introduced the "High-level Foreign Expert Recruitment Plan" in 2019, investing heavily in advanced sectors and easing permanent residency requirements for non-residents. Japan, in 2017, launched the Highly Skilled Foreign Professional Green Card system, reducing the residency requirement for permanent residency for researchers and executives to one year.

South Korea has also expanded visas and residency support for advanced technology sectors such as semiconductors and IT since 2022, but the results have been modest. The proportion of foreign professionals among foreign workers increased only slightly from 4.86% in 2022 to 4.98% in 2023. Additionally, the percentage of foreign PhD holders who remain in South Korea declined from 39.1% in 2016 to 29.8% in 2021.

Experts point to poor research and development environments, low wage levels, organizational culture, limited labor market openness, language and educational barriers, housing conditions, and socio-cultural discrimination against immigrants as significant issues. They warn that without creating attractive research and job environments, expanding immigration and visa policies alone will not attract top talent.

Hong Sung-min, Director of the Talent Policy Research Center at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, stated, "Without good research and job environments, simply expanding immigration and visa policies will not bring in high-quality talent. It is important to decide whether increasing the number of talents or attracting truly outstanding talents is the goal."

To address South Korea's talent exodus, it is insufficient to merely introduce policies aimed at attracting foreign talent. Improving the domestic research and work environment and creating a country where talented individuals want to work must come first. By doing so, South Korea can curb the exodus of its own talent and become competitive in attracting outstanding talent from abroad.