S.Korea's auto industry faces shortage of skilled workers for future cars

South Korea's automobile industry is rapidly transitioning toward the future such as environmentally friendly and smart cars, but the sector is facing a shortage of skilled workers, according to a quarterly report by the Korea Employment Information Service. 

As of the end of 2021, 14.6% of the auto manufacturing industry had already transitioned to future cars. The future car industry involves the development and production of completely environmentally friendly and smart cars, related hardware and software for components, and infrastructure and related service industries to utilize them.

Almost 50,000 workers have transitioned their jobs to future cars, accounting for 14.5% of all workers in the automobile manufacturing sector. Evaluation and verification jobs (24.2%), design jobs (21.1%) and simple production jobs (18.9%) were the most common positions.

Despite the transition to future cars, the industry is still grappling with a shortage of skilled workers. Studies estimate that about 22,480 workers require vocational training to secure future car-related jobs. By industry, electronic development accounted for the largest portion at 39.9%, followed by the body (26.5%) and electric vehicle (16.7%).

Jeon Juyong, a research fellow at the Korea Employment Information Service, emphasizes the importance of policy support to address the shortage of skilled workers. He suggests expanding vocational training programs and invigorating job transition initiatives to cultivate a pool of industry-specific skilled workers tailored to corporate demand.

He also recommends immediate action to solve the 7% shortage of skilled labor, which is critical to the success of the future car industry.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com