Four out of ten people in South Korea perceive foreign immigrants are contributing to the domestic economy.

In a survey of one-thousand-78 adults conducted by the Migration Research and Training Center in late 2025, 38-point-four percent of the respondents said immigrants were helpful to the economy.

Thirty-one-point-nine percent, on the other hand, said immigrants were an economic threat, as they took away jobs and even resided illegally in the country.

Nearly 30 percent said they did not have a significant impact.

Of the positive respondents, sixty-seven-point-nine percent said immigrants contributed by supplementing the shortage in the labor market, and 13 percent said they helped vitalize regional economies through domestic consumption.

And among negative views, 34-point-nine percent mentioned economic losses from their illegal immigrants, illegal employment and tax evasion.

Twenty-eight-point-one percent noted infringement of Korean employment and wage reduction, followed by increased social insurance and welfare burden at 26-point-nine percent.