Big rush for Korean jobs
Rasika Somarathna
*Authorities run out of applications
*Over 10,000 swarm Police Park
Outstation job aspirants should contact the
nearest application distribution centre instead of coming to Colombo -
SLBFE
A tense situation prevailed outside Police Park on Highlevel Road
yesterday morning, where over 10,000 youths had gathered to obtain
application forms to apply for jobs in South Korea. Commotion broke out
when authorities failed to provide a sufficient number of application
forms which resulted in a heavy traffic jam in the area.
Police had to be deployed later and barricades erected to quell the
unrest, which was eventually brought under control. Although over 10,000
youths had gathered to obtain applications, authorities could only
provide 3,500 resulting in a majority of youths returning home
disappointed. A large number of youths were seen camped outside Police
Park overnight to obtain applications.
![](z_p01-koriya.jpg)
Youth aspiring for jobs in South Korea clamouring to obtain
applications outside Police Park on Highlevel Road
yesterday. Picture by Ranjith Asanka |
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said
that they had established 28 centres islandwide to distribute
applications to Korean job aspirants. This would continue until
Thursday, they said. The rush for applications was due to misinformation
which resulted in a large number of outstation youths coming to Colombo
despite having regional centres to cater to their requirement.
According to the SLBFE there was no rush in regional centres where
the distribution of applications took place in a very smooth manner. “In
some centres there were only very few youths to collect applications,”
they added.
“There is a daily quota at each centre and at the Bambalapitiya
centre it was 3,500. The distribution of applications would continue up
to Thursday in the usual manner,” an official said.
The SLBFE yesterday urged outstation South Korean job aspirants to
contact their nearest application distribution centre instead of coming
to Colombo for them.
The popular demand for jobs in South Korea among youths comes in the
backdrop of Korean authorities announcing that they would increase the
annual job quota for Sri Lankans from 8,000 to 15,000 from next year.
Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare Minister, Dilan Perera
while attending the passing out of the latest batch of South Korean job
aspirants (195) from the Bogowantalawa SLBFE training centre, said that
the Korean government had increased its annual job quota for Sri Lankans.
While urging the youth to do their duty in Korea with commitment and
dedication, the minister also told Korean job seekers that due to the
efforts of their predecessors, Sri Lanka’s reputation in the Korean job
market has seeing a rapid increase over the years.
The first hurdle for job aspirants to obtain employment is to pass
the Korean language proficiency test.
Those who pass the examination is subjected to a medical test
followed by a comprehensive in-house training programme at centres run
by the SLBFE. Nearly 25,000 youths sat for the Korean Language
proficiency test last year with a pass rate of 22 percent.
This year authorities believe that the pass rate would be higher. Sri
Lanka’s ratings in the Korean migrant labour market has shown a rapid
increase, improving its ranking from a meager 13, a few years back to be
among the top three at present.
SLBFE Chairman Kingsely Ranawaka attributes the success to a well
coordinated pre-job training programme which has effectively contributed
to enhancing capacity of the labour migrants before departure.
According to Ranawaka some time back, Sri Lanka had faced the danger
of losing job quotas from Korea due to a high percentage of complaints.
The agreement between the two countries would have been annulled if
the complaints had exceeded 50 percent. The percentage of complaints
have now dropped to less than three percent,” he added. In the Sri
Lankan foreign employment market, Korea ranks very high due to the fact
that the salary provided for migrant labourers in Korea (more than
Rs.100,000 a month) is high in comparison to others like the Middle
East. In 2006, nearly, 2,500 Lankans migrated to Korea for jobs, in 2007
it increased to 4,600, in 2008 - 8,000 and in 2009 there was a slight
drop due to the global economic recession (4,500), in 2010 it increased
to over 8,000 and this year authorities expect that it would cross the
10,000 mark.
Korean job aspirants could obtain application forms from SLBFE
training centres at Ampara, Batticaloa, Ratmalana, Meegoda, Galle,
Kadawatha, Meerigama, Tangalle, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle,
Kurunegala, Dambulla, Chilaw, Trincomalee, Vavuniya.
Regional offices Anuradhapura, Badulla, Matara, Ratnapura. District
Secretariats at Tissamaharama, Pannala, Mannar, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya
and Thamankaduwa.
Prospective job seekers could also contact SLBFE on: 011-2880500 |