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Free keywords:
employment systems, international skilled migration, labor market, social anchoring, Japan, South Korea
Abstract:
This paper uses social anchoring to emphasize the psychological dimension of foreign professionals’ access to employment in South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s “occupation-centered” employment system provides relatively easy access to migrants in high-tech fields. However, migrants outside such fields face psychological insecurity because of stringent visa regulations and limited job opportunities. In contrast, migrants in Japan’s “organization-centered” employment system have easier access to stable employment, but only if they conform to Japanese homogenizing business norms. In sum, highly skilled migrants may not foresee a promising future in either country given the elusiveness of socio-psychological security.
