Few Migrant Kids Land Permanent Job After Training

A state-funded program to train the children of mixed-race couples and foreign students in Korea results in just six percent of them landing a permanent job, a report suggests.

The figures come from a report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on Sunday, which showed that since 2013, 680 children of multicultural families and foreign students have gone through the program.

But only 163 or 23.9 percent landed jobs afterwards, and just 6.6 percent were permanent positions. Many of them landed temporary jobs in call centers. Most of them quit soon after getting their job, so only six or 0.88 percent actually held on to their positions.

KOTRA had planned to tap multicultural labor by training young people who are fluent in the language of their migrant parents.

But Rep. Chung Woo-taik of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party said, "Because of nepotism and militant labor unions, much-needed assistance in the hiring of multicultural workers has been neglected."