(Jeju=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ho-cheon = The need for public seasonal employment programs in Jeju's agricultural cooperatives has doubled every year, leading to a surge in Vietnamese workers visiting Jeju annually.
According to the Jeju headquarters of the agricultural cooperative on the 16th, the public seasonal employment program, which connects local agricultural cooperatives employing Vietnamese workers from Nam Dinh province, which has an agreement with Jeju, to farms in need of labor, was introduced on a trial basis to the Jeju Wimi Agricultural Cooperative in 2023.
The trial program ran for five months from November 2023 to March of the following year. The 41 workers from Nam Dinh province (16 men, 25 women) were highly evaluated for their work in tasks such as citrus fruit harvesting, fertilizer application, and pruning, exceeding expectations.
Last year, the Jeju Wimi Agricultural Cooperative, as well as the Jeju Gosan Agricultural Cooperative and the Daejeong Agricultural Cooperative, each employed a total of 110 Vietnamese workers (40 men, 70 women) for five months each, utilizing them for tasks such as citrus fruit and winter vegetable harvesting.
This year, in addition to the participating agricultural cooperatives, the Jocheon Agricultural Cooperative, the Hallim Agricultural Cooperative, and the Seogwipo Agricultural Cooperative have joined, doubling the number of participating agricultural cooperatives to six.
Currently, workers employed by the Jeju Gosan Agricultural Cooperative and the Hallim Agricultural Cooperative have entered and are working, while the remaining four agricultural cooperatives' workers are expected to enter soon.
This year, the total number of Vietnamese workers for the public seasonal employment program in Jeju is expected to be 230 (99 men, 129 women).
The duration of stay for Vietnamese workers has increased from a minimum of five months to a maximum of eight months, depending on the agricultural cooperative, and the related crops have expanded to include citrus fruits, broccoli, kohlrabi, corn, onions, cabbage, and radishes.
Agricultural cooperatives focusing on summer crops plan to employ Vietnamese workers from June to December, while agricultural cooperatives focusing on citrus fruits and winter vegetables plan to employ them from October to April.
Next year, six additional agricultural cooperatives—Aewol, Hyoddun, Jungmun, Jeju Namwon, Seongsan Ilchulbong, and Jeju Citrus—have applied for the public seasonal employment program, with the number of agricultural cooperatives employing Vietnamese workers expected to double again.
The public seasonal employment program is managed by local governments, which handle program operations, management, and entry and exit management, while agricultural cooperatives handle labor contracts, accommodation management, and farm assignments.