Some Japanese communities struggling to keep foreign workersーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
japan is relying more on foreign workers as it contends with an aging society and fewer babies being born for the past six years people with certain status have had more freedom to choose where they work including whether to relocate to another city during their stay but that’s left some areas facing a labor shortage overall japan’s foreign workforce has hit record numbers for the past 12 years straight last year it exceeded 2.3 million people vietnam accounts for about a quarter of that number more than 570,000 after that workers from china then from the philippines in terms of year-on-year growth myamar saw the largest increase at 61% followed by indonesia and sri lanka over 200,000 people from abroad hold specified skilled worker status the system was introduced in 2019 to address a lack of domestic employees in fields such as construction nursing and elder care now people with this status have been crucial for companies in japan’s more remote communities which have seen younger population shrink for some time but now these areas are even seeing foreign workers depart for big cities as we see in this next report at this airport in hokkaido there’s a common sight at the arrivals gate people coming from abroad to fill in the gaps in staffing at some of the nursing homes in the prefecture the aging population means it’s an industry in demand this care provider has hired dozens of foreign workers throughout the years to care for seniors right now this facility employs nine from indonesia and myanmar i want to work hard save money and support my family back home [Applause] the firm spends thousands of dollars per caregiver to train them on nursing and japanese language skills managers expect them to stick around for at least 5 years as a return on their investment problem is many do not recently many caregivers have been leaving for jobs in the tokyo metropolitan area after just one year at the otadu facility it’s led to a challenging turnover rate of about 20% frustrating for the home’s operator we train our caregivers throughout the year so they can work here long term and we resent that tokyo area nursing homes get all the workers they need without making that investment the specified skilled worker system has empowered foreign workers in fields like nursing to seek employment anywhere in japan but it’s placed a huge burden on small towns and cities which before didn’t have to worry about competing with the opportunities and pay offered in places like tokyo often workers are attracted by social media ads getting direct messages from recruiters when they express interest in this post a caregiver from indonesia lays out why they chose to relocate to yokohama after receiving a message on facebook they cite the low wages and long winter in hokkaido the head of a job agency in the northern prefecture says it’s a common sentiment when you compare the wages there’s a difference of 20,000 to 30,000 yen per month and that’s big workers think that if they were to take on the same set of tasks they would prefer higher pay and milder weather he says it’s too big of a problem for individual businesses to solve but something should be done for more on this let’s go to nhk world’s kuro soy chiro who brought us this story he joins us now from our studio in saporo so soyo how widespread are these labor shortages in japan’s less densely populated areas it’s certainly not uncommon i heard from other businesses in hokkaido as well as in the tohok region these places are far from any big cities like tokyo where cost of living is low but so are people’s wages many foreign workers told me they need to earn more to send money to their families back home it’s pushing some to look for better pay and better conditions elsewhere that often means leaving the regions that need them most it’s worth noting that and it it’s worth noting that many saw this problem problem coming before the specified skilled worker systems began they predicted workers would flock uh flock to places like tokyo once given freedom to apply for jobs anywhere in japan even so an easy solution to this issue is not so clear so uh what is being considered to convince foreign workers to stay in the regions where they that need them the most well the japanese government has so far relied on the private sector to create incentives but now it says it plans to tackle the issue with new measures expected to be announced later this year i expect that many include supporting housing and education costs following the example that some local governments have already set but uh ultimately uh foreign workers are reaping for the same re reasons many young japanese are it’s hard to raise wages in these areas the government also has to consider international competition japan isn’t the only nation that needs workers so these measures have to make these regions attractive over big cities and other countries as well all right thank you very much so that was nhk rose kuros soichiro from saporo
Japan has seen record-high levels of foreign workers coming for over a decade, but some communities are still facing labor shortages in crucial fields. NHK World’s Kurose Soichiro examines the issue. #japan #hokkaido #populationcrisis #vietnam #indonesia #philippines #myanmar #india #foreignersinjapan
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