Migrant workers earn W1.9m a month: survey

Foreign workers in Seoul earn less than 2 million won ($1,800) a month on average, a city survey showed Monday,

According to Seoul Metropolitan Government, foreign workers earn 1.89 million won a month while working an average of 11 hours a day.

The city conducted a one-month survey in December of 700 expat workers for the first time as part of its efforts to improve their work and welfare conditions. Of some 415,000 expats living in the capital, about 90,000 are day laborers or work in the service sector, city officials said.

While almost half of them earned between 1.5 million won and 2 million won a month, about 30 percent made over 2 million won. The rest received less than 1.5 million won, they added.

About 46 percent of the respondents came to Seoul with the expectation that they could earn a lot of money, the survey said. The rest flew here because of acquaintances living in Seoul or good perceptions of the country, it added.

The survey respondents gave their living conditions 3.57 out of 5 points, indicating that they were somewhat satisfied.

Nearly half of the respondents faced linguistic barriers, followed by prejudice and discrimination against foreigners with 40.1 percent, the report said.

“Based on the survey results, (the city) will push for more realistic support measures for expats in an effort to help them better adjust and not be discriminated against,” the municipality said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)