The government has raised the annual quota of foreign workers who remain in the country on E-9 non-professional employment visas by ten-thousand to 69-thousand people.
 
The Foreign Workforce Policy Committee presided by Bang Moon-gyu, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, announced the plan on Wednesday.
 
The measure is aimed at easing worker shortage, particularly in the shipbuilding and manufacturing industries, due to entry restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Nine-thousand of the additional ten-thousand workers will be designated to the manufacturing, agriculture and livestock, and construction sectors in accordance with existing quotas. The remaining one-thousand can be assigned flexibly to any industry.  
 
The government also eased requirements for hiring foreign migrant workers in different industries and will implement measures to better protect their human rights.
 
Bang said that the government will come up with plans to revamp the employment permit system overall, taking into account the opinions of industries and experts.