While the 98 Filipina caregivers in Seoul city’s pilot program are protected under South Korea’s Labor Standards Act, Act on the Employment Improvement of Domestic Workers and statutory minimum wage, some government officials have been talking about making the project more like Hong Kong’s foreign domestic helper scheme. Some have said Korea should follow Hong Kong’s model and exclude foreign domestic workers from the minimum wage. Foreign caregivers here could be hired t

Politics Dec. 3, 2024

Fifty-one years ago, during Hong Kong's "golden era" of social reform, then-Gov. Murray MacLehose established a framework to bring in low-wage foreign workers for domestic and care work. This policy aimed to encourage educated, upper- and middle-class local women to enter the workforce — a rationale similar to that of the Seoul city government's foreign caregiver pilot program today. Though now facing different socioeconomic conditions, some South Korean politicians and

Politics Nov. 13, 2024

Native English teachers have become an essential part of South Korea‘s education system over the past three decades in a country where learning English is crucial to finding a quality job. However, many are concerned their rights as education workers are being violated, particularly concerning their freedom to choose when and how long they can take their vacation days — their only opportunity to reunite with their families far away. “We often face problems with our annual lea

Social Affairs March 11, 2024

A group of foreign English teachers employed across the private academy industry are seeking to launch the first nationwide union to represent their rights, organizers told The Korea Herald. Most new foreign English teachers, as well as Korean parents and students, are unaware of the labor abuses rampant in the private academy industry, they said. Wage theft is among a list of common issues, they explained, referring to online posts of teachers claiming they have been forced to work more than th

Social Affairs April 14, 2023