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By 2004, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs estimated the number of Filipinos in South Korea at 41,000, of whom 9,000 were undocumented. In 2006, the Philippines' Department of Labor and Employment signed an agreement with South Korea regarding Filipino migrant workers; the Korean side offered a minimum US$700 per month salary, which could rise as high as US$1,000 with overtime pay, would permit workers to remain in South Korea for up to three years, and offered preference to workers who had illegally worked in South Korea previously but departed the country voluntarily by the February 2004 amnesty deadline. Applicants would be pre-screened based on previous employment as well as educational and health certifications; those given preliminary approval would go on to take the Korean Language Proficiency Test administered by the South Korean government. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, which handled the pre-screening, was soon swamped with more than 200,000 applicants. By 2007, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimated that the number of Filipinos in South Korea had grown by more than 70% to 70,000; 6,000 held permanent residency, while another 14,000 - 15,000 were undocumented. In July 2007, the South Korean embassy, under pressure from Korean businessmen in the Philippines complaining of "harassment and extortion" by Philippine immigration officials, stopped issuing visas to Filipinos headed to South Korea for work.
Overseas Filipino workers based in South Korea are expected to receive wage increase after Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz announced that Filipino workers under the Employment Permit System will benefit the approved salary hike by the South Korea Minimum Wage Council (SKMWC).
The SKMCW passed a minimum wage increase of 370 Korean won or 7.1 per cent; or an equivalent hourly rate of 5,580 Korean won. This is up from the 2014 rate of 5,210 won per hour.
The new wage level will be implemented from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015, citing Seoul-based Labor Attache Felicitias Bay, who said that the 7th Plenary Session of the Minimum Wage Council under Chairman Park Jun-sung passed the wage adjustment, participated in by 27 councilors.
Minimum wage hikes are determined by factors such as wage hikes by collective bargaining agreements and income distribution improvement rates which indicate wage levels of workers belonging to the same industry.
The increase, which translates to a monthly salary of 1,166,220 won (US$1,150.18) for people working 40 hours a week, or 209 hours a month, including paid weekly holidays, covers all workers as defined by the Labor Standards Act.
The wage increase, however, does not cover those working in their family business and living in the same residence, domestic workers, seafarers governed by the Seafarers Act, and those whose ability to work is apparently low due to physical or mental disabilities, as long as their exclusion from coverage is permitted by their Minister of Employment and Labor.
As of the first quarter of 2014, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration reported the deployment of 319 new hires, 12 of which are domestic helpers while 307 are skilled workers to South Korea.
