The number of foreigners with jobs in South Korea fell to the 840-thousand range mainly due to the prolonged pandemic.

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday: 843-thousand as of May.
That's down one-point-four percent on-year.

The annual tally, which rose from 848-thousand in 2020 to 855-thousand in 2021, dropped back under 850-thousand this year.
The decline was primarily driven by foreigners returning to their home countries in the face of entry and exit restrictions implemented due to COVID-19.

The number of foreign residents in the country aged 15 and up also fell two-point-two percent on-year to one-point-three million. Their employment rate rose zero-point-six percentage points to 64-point-eight percent.

Nineteen-point-seven percent of foreigners said they had experienced discrimination in the past year, with 58 percent citing their country of origin as the reason, followed by 27-point-nine percent ascribing it their Korean language ability.