South Korea to boost visas for skilled workers amid labour shortages

South Korea will boost its annual quota of visas for skilled workers to more than 30,000 this year from 2,000 a year ago, to help companies battling a staff crunch, the justice minister said on Wednesday.

With younger South Koreans reluctant to take up blue-collar jobs, the industrial and farming sectors of Asia's fourth-largest economy are struggling to fill vacancies.

"As we are expanding the number by 30-fold at once ... there will be no talk of foreigners unable to come due to insufficient quota," the presidential office quoted Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon as telling a government meeting.

The comparison was to the figure of about 1,000 in 2020, the minister added.

South Korea, which initially planned a cap of 5,000 for such E-7-4 visas this year, will also relax application criteria and let companies hire more foreigners, the ministry said, in response to industry requests.