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| Rep. Lee Joo-hwan of People Power Party speaks during the government audit of the trade and SMEs ministry at the National Assembly, Oct. 7. Yonhap |
By Lee Kyung-min
The decrease in highly educated foreign talent in Korea continues to far outpace the number of their Korean counterparts leaving for advanced countries, fanning concerns that the Asia's fourth-largest economy is increasingly being shunned by the competent workforce crucial to bolster national and corporate competitiveness.
The brain drain that is pronounced in the science and information technology (IT) sectors will only accelerate since no immediate improvement is expected concerning administrative inefficiencies defined by time-consuming paperwork compounded by low salaries and poor job security.
Experts say research grants should be given and used to help create an environment whereby workers can focus purely on research and not administrative work, thereby helping the efficient use of time and energy needed for high value creation.
Data submitted to Rep. Lee Joo-hwan of the People Power Party from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), showed there were only 153 foreign talented employees working at large conglomerates, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), state-run or private institutes and universities as of September. This is about a quarter of the 615 in 2016.
The figure has been on a steady decline over the past four years. It was 483 in 2017, 362 in 2018 and 316 in 2019. Combined with this, the number of Korean would-be IT experts leaving for advanced countries is also on the rise.
Data from the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Evaluation and Planning, showed 39,853 science majors found jobs overseas in 2017, up 67 percent from 23,879 in 2015.
The increase is far faster than the decrease of 7 percent in the number of their foreign counterparts that found jobs here. The figure dropped to 4,596 in 2018 from 4,944 in 2014.
In a report published by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), the private think tank said Korea will become a country with the lowest competitiveness concerning human capital needed for the Fourth Industrial Revolution within the next five years, if no material improvement is made to the status quo where the country's manpower shortage rate is 29 percent. This means only three out of 10 people are available for key government tasks.
What is more worrisome is that state grants end up being wasted due to research programs cut short because foreign staff left before completing the program citing a combination of reasons unfavorable to continued, concentrated academic work.
According to the Ministry of Science and Information and communications technology (ICT), 71 out of 243 such programs were cancelled before their five-year end dates between 2016 and 2019.
About 8.2 billion won ($7.1 million) was wasted in the process, accounting for about 24 percent of the total 33.6 billion won.
The lawmaker sitting on the National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee said the government should come up with a long-term plan to incentivize talented IT workers.
"China is aggressively pushing to secure IT experts, an effort that highlights the lack of a plan to break the years-long trend in Korea. The government should promptly find ways to secure and nurture a group of young people that can become data scientists whose contribution to national and corporate competitiveness is directly linked to the country's sustainable growth," Lee said.
