The government will allow entry for 110-thousand workers from overseas next year to make up for the nation’s labor shortage.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the decision on Thursday, explaining that the recent sharp decline in non-professional foreign workers has had a severe impact on small- and medium-sized manufacturing and agricultural enterprises.

As of September of this year, the ministry said, incoming foreign labor has dropped eleven-point-six percent from pre-pandemic levels, prompting the ministry to up the work visa limit.

With the increase, the ministry vowed to strengthen protection for such workers by prohibiting employers with workplace deaths or accidents from hiring foreign workforce and requiring occupational accident insurance in order to receive an employment permit.