Japan saw its biggest year-on-year jump in foreign workers since records began, government data showed yesterday, as the country seeks to address labor shortages exacerbated by its aging population.
In October last year, the nation’s foreign workforce stood at 2.3 million — an increase of around 254,000 people, or 12.4 percent, from a year earlier, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare data showed.
That marks the biggest jump since records began in 2008, and is the latest in a series of annual record-breaking increases.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The total has jumped around threefold from a decade ago, in 2014, when the number of foreign workers stood at 788,000.
The number of businesses employing at least one foreign worker also hit a record high of around 342,000, up 7.3 percent from a year ago, data showed.
Japan has the world’s second-oldest population after Monaco, according to the World Bank, and its relatively strict immigration rules mean it faces growing labor shortages. The aging nation will need 6.88 million foreign workers in 2040 to meet its growth targets, according to an estimate by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Yesterday’s data showed Vietnamese, Chinese and Filipinos were the top three nationalities in Japan’s foreign labor force. Japan also saw a surge in foreign workers from Myanmar, Indonesia and Sri Lanka last year, many of whom were blue-collar workers or students rather than high-skilled professionals.
Among the most common jobs held by foreign workers were positions in the manufacturing, hospitality and retail sectors.
A “technical intern” program continued to account for a sizeable portion of the foreign workforce, at 20.4 percent. The state-sponsored scheme is ostensibly an attempt by Japan to give participants from countries such as China and Vietnam specialized experience to use in their home countries.
However, critics have long called it a “backdoor” source of foreign labor in a conservative nation loath to officially acknowledge it is open to immigrants.
The intern program has also been long dogged by allegations of discrimination and physical abuse.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such