The government has decided to allow the entry of a record 165-thousand foreign workers next year in a bid to address serious labor shortage in some industries. 

The government reached the decision on Monday during a meeting on policy regarding foreign workforce on E-9 visas. The figure is up 37-and-a-half percent from last year and the largest to be recorded since the government implemented the employment permit system for foreigners in 2004. 

Compared to 2021, the figure has more than tripled. 

The government decided to allow, for the first time, the employment of foreign workers next year in sectors experiencing serious labor shortages including restaurants, forestry and mining.

In the case of restaurants, the government will hire foreign workers to help in the kitchen on a trial basis, in 100 regions, including Seoul’s 25 districts, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju and Daejeon. 

The government will also permit forestry corporations and companies that produce seedlings for forests as well as mining firms that produce more than 150-thousand tons of metal and nonmetal annually to hire foreign workers.