WeFriends, a South Korean migrant worker mental health support organisation, has released a report analysing the results from two surveys conducted in 2020 and 2022 and in-depth interviews with migrant workers. The report examines participants’ mental health and their awareness and experience of suicide. Survey respondents include 102 Chinese, Nepali and Myanmar migrant workers in 2020, and 100 Thai and Vietnamese migrant workers in 2022. The migrants work in a number of sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and the service industry.

The report finds that vulnerable sub-groups of migrant workers, such as women, workers with adverse childhood experiences, or workers with low education levels, are at high risk of depression. Further, of those migrants who were interviewed about their experiences and perceptions of suicide, 40.4% had heard about suicide ideation by an acquaintance in the past six months; and 23.1% had experienced suicide ideation themselves. The most commonly reported issue (59.6%) relating to suicidal ideation was workplace problems.

A later article published in the Korea Biomedical Review highlights high levels of suicide by migrant workers on the Employment Permit System. The article notes that the scheme reduces migrants’ ability to change jobs in the case of abusive employment. The article also explores the workplace problems that may be driving poor mental health, citing a number of issues including:

• Unreasonably long working hours – The article cites The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affair’s report noting 29.8 percent of migrant workers have 60-hour work weeks, longer than the standard 52-hour work week.
• Denial of sick leave.
• Discrimination at work and in the wider community.