Recently, the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Alleviation of Uzbekistan discussed the hiring of Uzbek workers with Samsung Heavy Industries. The two sides agreed that Samsung Heavy Industries will recruit up to 800 professional shipbuilding workers in Uzbekistan by 2025. These workers will travel to South Korea on multiple-entry E-7 visas, which are usually issued to skilled workers and are valid for three years.
The E-7 visa allows the holder to visit South Korea multiple times. Workers can work in South Korea for a period of time with the E-7 visa, return to Uzbekistan flexibly, and then re-enter South Korea as needed.
Uzbekistan, located in Central Asia, is a landlocked country with a population of approximately 37.36 million, and the commonly spoken language is Russian. The Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan stated that the agreement aims to enhance the professional skills of Uzbek workers, create stable conditions for employment abroad, and support their career development.
Samsung Heavy Industries’ move was interpreted as an attempt to alleviate its labor shortage. Samsung Heavy Industries has hired workers from various countries and backgrounds who are mastering important technologies in the shipbuilding field.
In addition to Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries also announced last month that it plans to hire 350 professionals from Uzbekistan. The hired workers will first enter South Korea on E-9 visas, and then have the opportunity to switch to E-7 visas that allow long-term residence.
Not only in Uzbekistan, Korean shipbuilders are also recruiting shipbuilding workers in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries.
According to Korean media reports, as of the end of June 2024, the number of employees at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries reached 33,286, an increase of 1,477 from 31,809 at the end of 2023, and an increase of 3,117 from 31,690 at the end of 2022 after a lapse of 18 months.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the labor shortage problem faced by the Korean shipbuilding industry has further intensified. As the losses of South Korea’s large shipbuilding companies continued to increase before and after the epidemic, the decline in the number of employees further increased. The number of employees at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries continued to decline from 32,748 at the end of 2020 to 31,690 at the end of 2022.
Subsequently, as the global shipbuilding industry entered a new round of prosperity, large Korean shipbuilding companies continued to sign a large number of shipbuilding contracts despite being loss-making, resulting in a situation where the labor force shrank but the number of shipyard jobs increased dramatically.
As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues beyond the end of 2022, South Korea’s shipbuilding industry’s labor shortage has reached its limit, forcing the government to take action.
In 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea (MOTIE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, announced a new plan to address the challenges of introducing foreign labor into the country’s shipbuilding industry. The plan includes raising the foreign workforce allowed at each company to 30% from 20% and establishing special rules for foreign students graduating from Korean universities. As various measures continue to advance, the number of employees at South Korea’s large shipbuilding companies has rebounded since last year and was further eased in the first half of 2024.