Filipino caregivers arrive at Incheon International Airport, marking the start of a pilot program for foreign care workers, Aug. 6. Korea Times file

A government initiative to expand the nationwide use of foreign caregivers next year has faced unexpectedly low demand from local governments, prompting a potential revision of the program's timeline and implementation strategy, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Friday.

A ministry official attributed the low demand to the absence of national funding, emphasizing that local governments are burdened with covering the costs of administration and worker support.

"It seems that local governments have been burdened by a lack of national funding for this project," the official said.

By the eve of Thursday's application deadline, no local governments had applied to participate in the foreign caregiver program, which employs non-Korean workers on E-9 visas to assist with childcare and domestic duties, it said.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government, which has been running a pilot project since September, is the only local authority expressing interest in continuing the program. The city has allocated 150 million won ($115,000) to cover accommodation, transportation, and interpretation expenses for caregivers.

The initiative, aimed at supporting dual-income, single-parent families and those with multiple children, was initially set to expand by the end of 2024 to include 1,200 caregivers. In response to growing demand, the ministry and Seoul launched a pilot program, deploying 100 Filipino caregivers to households across the city.

The pilot program, scheduled to end in February, has encountered several challenges. In addition to low participation from other local governments, it has faced caregiver departures and disagreements over wage policies between Seoul and the labor ministry.

The ministry had initially planned a nationwide rollout of the full program in the first half of 2024. However, due to limited interest from local authorities, the government is now considering extending the pilot or revising its approach. The program aimed to broaden the pool of foreign workers by including countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, while also expanding the caregivers' responsibilities to cover both childcare and household chores.

A major obstacle has been the program's dependence on local governments to assess specific needs, such as the number of caregivers required and preferred countries of origin. Without this essential data, the government has faced difficulties in formalizing the project.

The initiative has also sparked controversy over wages. Earlier, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed paying foreign caregivers less than the national minimum wage, while Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo argued that such differential pay would violate Korea's labor laws.

As the program's future remains uncertain, the Ministry of Labor has emphasized that the current Filipino caregivers may have their visas extended for up to three years, depending on job performance evaluations.