Facilities for disabled face serious labor shortages in Japan: survey

Facilities for people with disabilities in Japan are facing severe labor shortages, a recent survey by a group supporting the disabled showed, affected by low wages and a shrinking workforce as Japan's population ages

I think this is one of the first articles I have seen that upfront states it is a wage shortage problem.

Kudos to Kyodo for finally acknowledgimg the elephant on the room, hteat reportage.

The government has a poor track record of assisting people with disabilities and those that work with them. We had a ""workshop" in our neighborhood once, where the local disabled people "worked" daily. They made some unique clothes pins and sold them around the neighborhood.

Everything depended upon public support from the municipal government, but they cut funding to zero, the shop closed, and now all the people that worked there are wandering around doing nothing all day long.

A similar story in my neighborhood @Yubaru

A disabled workshop in my neighborhood regularly had people selling handicrafts and homemade snacks at our local station but I haven't seen them in ages. Also the two young Nepalese university students who took wheelchair bound people from a local facility for walks around here everyday have vanished since summer.

Also a family member of ours was working a few hours twice a day at mealtimes at an adult daycare facility but quit when her salary was cut to ¥900 and then ¥850 an hour.

Wage is an issue but not only.

Taking care of persons with disabilities is a hard job and does require an heart to do that. Going only for the money will make a worker frustrated and most choose that path with a clear social mission otherwise it will be hard to stay long. Like for every job, passion is the key

My wife works at one of these facilities and "Larr Flint" is correct. Wages are crap. But we all know, or maybe it is just me, that wages in Japan are somewhat of a double edged sword. The minute you raise them across the board, well, that is when you could start the ball of inflation rolling heavily. But by keeping them low you keep the harmony and inflation slowly works its way through the economy. As usual... there is no real good answer, Japan has so many "hard rocks" and so many "hard places" it is sitting in between.

This may be the most tragic outcome of the elder apocalypse: the disabled didn't vote for to stick their heads in the sand like the elderly presumably did.

How about politicians who get suspended sentences to work in these places

I can confirm this. I work with people with disabilities in Japan. We are looking for staff. Please help.

The job is misery inducing, thankless, and criminally underpaid. Why would anyone in their right mind want to do this? You work yourself to the bone, and dont even earn enough to feed your family.

The solution lies down south, in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines. They have a plethora of willing workers, eager to get experience at their chosen professions. But, you know, they’re foreign, with customs “different to ours”.

100% They are going to have to make a clear cut choice. They say you can judge a society on how it treats its most vulnerable after all. Make a program custom designed to bring foreign workers into the care industries ( deal with those feelings of unease that immigration seems to conjure ) OR just let people with disabilities go uncared for and suffer. Choice is your fellas. Think it over while you celebrate those winter bonuses and kickbacks.

How about politicians who get suspended sentences to work in these places

Nice idea.

But physically and or mentally disabled people have way more competence and are way more capable of contributing to society than any of those "dirty" politicians. They would just cause more difficulties for the patients.

The group calls on the government to seek a "fundamental solution" to the labor shortage and improve working conditions for workers

like getting blood out of a stone. These ideas are far from the government’s interest, who are more concerned with stamping out the many fires started by their corruption and greed.

The solution lies down south, in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines. They have a plethora of willing workers, eager to get experience at their chosen professions. But, you know, they’re foreign, with customs “different to ours”.

There is no labour shortage in Japan.

Let’s see,miserable salary which is the lowest within the G7 countries,long extended working hours with overwork.

And they wonder why there is a lack of personal in the job?

Japan is lacking behind in many ways compared to more civilized societies.