Korea is suffering a serious brain drain problem in the science and technology sector when the nation urgently needs to develop vaccines against new infectious diseases, a lawmaker said.

The exodus of scientists and engineers is particularly accelerating in the biopharmaceutical and environment industries where the demand is surging and highly-skilled people in their 30s and 40s rather than those in their 20s and younger are leaving Korea, she added.

Rep. Jun Hye-sook of the ruling Democratic Party released the analysis of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s report on Koreans’ occupations in the U.S. based on the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG).

According to Jun, the number of Korean scientists and engineers in the biological, agricultural, and environmental life sciences surged to 9,493 in 2017, a 2.2-fold increase from 4,339 in 2015.

The number of Koreans employed in the U.S. science and technology sector totaled 18,731 in 2017, up from 11,223 in 2015. An additional 5,154 were from biological, agricultural, and environmental life sciences, which accounted for 68.6 percent of the total increase.

The number of Korean workers in biological, agricultural, and environmental life sciences in the U.S. steadily rose in 2013 and 2017 when Korean scientists and engineers' overall immigration to the U.S. went down.

“Biological, agricultural, and environmental life sciences include biotechnology and microbiology that are directly related to the development of treatments and vaccines against new infectious diseases,” Jun said.

It was also noteworthy that the proportion of Korean scientists and engineers in their 30s and 40s landing a job in the U.S. was increasing. This meant that more highly-skilled Korean workers are moving abroad, she went on to say.

Among 21,939 Korean scientists and engineers employed in the U.S. in 2010, those in their 20s and younger accounted for 35.1 percent, in their 30s, 38.2 percent, and in their 40s, 21.4 percent, according to Jun.

However, the 2017 data showed that the proportion of those in their 20s and younger stood at 13 percent, in their 30s, 53.7 percent, and their 40s, 26.9 percent.

“In biological, agricultural, and environmental life sciences, which are crucial in R&D, as many as 7,396 people in their 30s – the most active workforce – left Korea for the U.S.,” Jun said.

As more talented people in their active ages in promising industries are in exodus, Korea needs a national strategy and policy to secure skilled scientists and engineers, she added.