Migrants could help boost Korea's skilled workforce: Kremer

Migration can help highly skilled female workers enter the labor market, which can increase Korea’s economic growth rate, according to Nobel laureate Michael Kremer Tuesday.

Nobel laureate Michael Kremer speaks at a press conference held in Incheon at the Asia Development Bank meeting that started Tuesday. [NEWS1]]

Migration can help highly skilled female workers enter the labor market, which can increase Korea’s economic growth rate, according to Nobel laureate Michael Kremer Tuesday.

Migration would be economically beneficial, but it could create political obstacles, including those related to concerns about crime, Kremer said at a press conference held at the Asia Development Bank (ADB) meeting that started in Incheon Tuesday. The rapid adoption of migration can cause cultural issues considering Korea is a monoethnic country.

Foreigners coming to Korea could “free” highly skilled female workers to enter the labor market. Increasing the supply of educated workers and having a bigger workforce as a result of migrants can potentially contribute to boosting the Korean economy and increase tax revenue.

He added the migrants can also push up wages for low-skilled local workers while allowing the migrants to earn more than they otherwise would have.

The issue was addressed in response to Korea’s low birth rate and the aging population.

Korea broke its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate last year, falling to 0.78 children per woman from 0.81 the previous year.

Providing visas to migrants to take care of children or the elderly could help contribute to increasing the fertility rate, Kremer added. Doctors, nurses and other care workers were mentioned.

Hong Kong and Singapore have implemented large special visa programs for foreign private household workers. Such programs are less likely to raise concerns about crime or culture change than other types of migration, he said, but stressed the importance of not exploiting the foreign workers.

Kremer noted the importance of global cooperation when asked about the economic impacts of the rise of trade protectionism in the United States and China.

But even at times of intense political rivalry, there are some areas in which countries can manage to cooperate, Kremer said, noting the eradication of the smallpox during times of rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union.

Problems that can be jointly tackled these days include climate change and future pandemics.

Kremer, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was jointly awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr