Workers failing to sign labor contract may have to re-register in job roster

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: Thousands of Nepalis who were registered in roster for Korean jobs under Employment Permit System (EPS) in 2011 but failed to get the job contract so far would need to re-qualify on health test and register themselves again if they want to keep their hopes of getting the South Korean job still alive.

Such a situation surfaced mainly as many of their medical report, which is valid for a year, has either expired or others´ report too are expiring soon. And this will automatically lead to de-registration of their names from the roster. “If they want to re-register themselves, they would need to be qualified in the medical test and fill up the job application forms yet again,” said a source at the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE). According to the EPS Nepal Office data, a total of 15,500 youths had registered in its job roster after qualifying through the Korean language test and heath check up for Korean jobs in the year 2011. However, only 6,039 of them have actually signed labor contracts so far. “Remaining workers have either already been de-registered or will soon face de-registration if they did not undergo the registration process,” the source told Republica. Under EPS, the validity of Korean language test certificate is set for two years. But the Korean government can delete the names of the job seekers after a year of their registration in the job roster. To facilitate the re-registration, the EPS-Nepal Office is soon going to make public the names of job aspirants who need to undergo re-registration process. “The MoLE has already initiated the process to select the medical institutions to conduct the health test for those job aspirants,” the source added. In a measure to cope with the rising labor shortage, Korean government introduced EPS in 2004 allowing domestic firms to hire foreign workers. Korea has signed EPS pacts with 15 countries to source the workers for five sectors- agriculture, manufacturing, construction, fisheries and service. South Korea has signed EPS pacts with Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and East Timor. Most of the Nepali workers who left for Korea for EPS jobs since 2008 are employed mainly in agriculture and manufacturing sectors which are booming in the fourth largest economy of the Asia. Nepal and Korea had signed EPS deal on July 23, 2007 to send Nepali workers to Korea through the government level.
Published on 2012-11-10 04:00:42