1 out of 7 construction workers in Korea foreign nationals; 84% Korean Chinese
Around 230,000 foreign nationals worked in Korea's construction sector in 2024, with over 80 percent of them being Chinese nationals of Korean ethnicity, according to a report released Tuesday by a government-affiliated labor group.
The Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association reported that in 2024, 229,541 foreign nationals were employed in the construction industry, accounting for 14.7 percent of all workers in the sector.
Among workers whose nationalities were verified, 83.7 percent were ethnic Koreans from China (Korean Chinese), while 5.9 percent were Chinese of non-Korean descent. Vietnamese nationals made up 2.2 percent, and ethnic Koreans from Russia accounted for 1.7 percent.
About 50.5 percent of the surveyed workers were on an F-4 visa, issued to individuals of Korean heritage who are not citizens here. It is issued to those who used to be Korean nationals but acquired foreign nationality or to people whose parent or grandparent used to be Korean but acquired foreign nationality.
The average age of foreign workers starting work in construction was 42.5, younger than the starting age for Korean workers, which was 45.7. A little over 66 percent of the foreign workers in construction were working in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
Construction is among the oldest fields in Korea, with a recent report from the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy showing that Seoul-based construction workers start work at the average age of 46.8 years.
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