ABSTRACT

In Korea, the demand of care services for the older adults is increasing significantly due to the rapid aging of the population. However, the number of caregivers who can provide the services is also rapidly decreasing, resulting in failing to keep up with the demand. Recently, the Korean government began to consider importing foreign workers into the older adults’ care sector to respond to this situation. Accordingly, this study analyzed cases from neighboring countries to seek ways to import the foreign workers into the sector in Korea. Specifically, following the analyses of the cases of Taiwan and Japan, the reason why the foreign workers were imported into the sector was the lack of domestic workers’ willing to work in that sector. In Taiwan, foreign workers in the sector who are privately employed at home are responsible for housework and nursing services at lower wages than domestic workers. In Japan, within the framework of the public nursing care (Gaeho) insurance system, foreign workers with both Japanese language and care skills are imported and dispatched to nursing facilities, and they are guaranteed equal working conditions and wages to domestic workers. After carefully examining these cases, it was suggested that Korea should actively review the current status of polices on importing foreign workers in both countries when Korea regards the foreign workers as the solution to the lack of manpower in the older adults care sector at the end of this paper.