The trainees, like a growing number of their contemporaries, are wanting to get opportunities on government supported mobility work programs offered in South Korea and Australia, lured by better wages and more job opportunities.

The training, run jointly by the Secretary State of Professional and Employment and Korean Language Student Program in Timor Leste, aimed to teach attendees how to positively adapt to the workplace culture in South Korea and maintain good health when living abroad. But ensuring Timorese workers stay on the South Korean job program is not a certainty.

In August 2023, South Korea’s Ambassador to Timor-Leste Shin Mantaek, told media there were 3,700 Timorese workers working in Korea, and of these 1300 had left the system and working illegally in South Korea.

As many as 20 per cent of young people in Timor-Leste do not work or study due to lack of education, limited formal work opportunities, limitations in healthcare provisions and ineffective social protection, according to a recent report from the World Bank.

In 2021, Timor-Leste’s unemployment rate was 14 per cent, the report said.

“The supply of workers with university education is twice the demand in the labour market, but unevenly distributed between sectors, with the supply of foreign labour filling critical gaps,” the report highlighted.