By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW):The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) says that the Director of the South Korean Human Resources Department based in Sri Lanka, has agreed to provide 8,000 job opportunities for Sri Lankans in S. Korea this year, exceeding the job quota of 6,500 offered earlier.
This agreement was reached during the discussion held this morning between the Director of the Korean Human Resources Department and the Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, the SLBFE said in a statement.
It had also been agreed to refer 600 people who are currently registered in the Korean job website after passing the Korean language proficiency test under the production sector category for jobs in the shipbuilding sector.
Priority will be given to job seekers registered in the website, whose period for securing a job will expire by December 31 this year.
Accordingly, these jobs are to be provided by shifting the job category from the production sector of the website to the ship construction sector.
Thus, candidates who are willing to change their job category from production to the shipbuilding industry should apply for it as soon as possible, the statement added.
The S. Korean Human Resources Department has also agreed to conduct examinations and recruit 900 welders and painters for jobs in the shipbuilding industry under the E9 visa category from next year.
The Director of the Korean Human Resources Department has also informed the Minister that from next year, the Korean Language Proficiency Test will be conducted using the UBT system instead of the current computer-based CBT system.
Sri Lanka ha received an employment quota of 6500 jobs from South Korea previously for the year 2023.
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said in a statement that the employment quota was the highest received thus far and an increase of 28.79% in comparison to last year (2022).
The SLBFE further said that 1453 more jobs have been received in 2023 in comparison to the 5047 jobs that were received in 2022.
Among the 6500 jobs offered for this year, 14,588 applicants have been placed on the waiting list for vacancies in South Korea.
These include 12,189 job opportunities in the manufacturing sector, 2149 in the fisheries sector, and 250 in the construction sector, the SLBFE said.
The SLBFE further said that Sri Lanka was able to send 6639 migrant workers to South Korea last year, despite having a quota of 5047 jobs due to constant discussions with the South Korean authorities and Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara.
The excess cadre from last year will be dispatched this year to South Korea, the SLBFE added.
