Japan records biggest jump in foreign workers in 2024

LOL.... the very next story on JT..

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/man-arrested-for-stabbing-acquaintance-on-street-in-osaka

Yet another Vietnamese stabbing. Wake up Japan!

20% are basically slave labor. Let’s call it as it is. Cheap 3rd world labor. Disgusting.

@Mr Kipling

Because there are never any reports of Japanese people committing crimes.

If anything, a Vietnamese person is much more likely to be on the receiving end of illegal working conditions and workplace harassment than commit crimes themselves.

Because there are never any reports of Japanese people committing crimes.

in Japan?

If anything, a Vietnamese person is much more likely to be on the receiving end of illegal working conditions and workplace harassment than commit crimes themselves.

They are paid exactly the same rate as any Japanese worker.

The conditions are so bad that thousands are competing to come to Japan. Odd don't you think?

@Mr Kipling

Your belief on the equality of foreign workers is based on what?

The Japanese Constitution?

Unfortunately, there are many examples of foreigners being deceived and abused in Japan.

Even JT has had many examples of ill treatment.

1/ White western people making claims about " foreigners " nothing new.

2/What is new is these same privileged people making the claims while themselves being a foreigner in another country .

3/Racism can be partially hidden, or completely on show, even as something to chest beat about.

But it is still racism.

4/ Today I was served by a non Japanese man in a 7/11.....the horror...the horror...

“Friday's data showed Vietnamese, Chinese and Filipinos were the top three nationalities in Japan's foreign labor force.”

i wonder how it is that a growing number of people from the world’s second largest economy, China, are coming to Japan, the world’s fourth largest, to work at minimal wage jobs, or worse, as technical trainees.

You don't save Japan by turning it into India or the Philippines. Give a reason for people to have families. The majority of the ones who care about depopulation and opening the doors to immigration are the ones who want to maintain the lowest salary possible while recording record profits.

in Japan?

In JT, mostly yes.

They are paid exactly the same rate as any Japanese worker.

The "trainee programme" has such a bad reputation for worker exploitation that even the LDP had to get along with reform (i.e. renaming).

@GuruMick

Very well put!

@Mr Kipling

They are paid exactly the same rate as any Japanese worker.

Wrong, JGovt use trainee/intern scheme so Japanese company who use those foreign worker can pay wages lower than normal regional wages. Despite the fact in order to apply those program they need to have previous experience in similar field prior coming to Japan, so is not training at all, it is actual labor.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/special-report-foreign-interns-pay-the-price-for-japan-s-labor-shortage-idUSKBN0EN06G/

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/4002

@Mr Kipling

The conditions are so bad that thousands are competing to come to Japan. Odd don't you think?

Because many of them have no idea about their condition before coming to Japan, those agents that recruit them in their home country basically they are salesman that try to convince by selling good living in Japan. All those agents need to do just get them into Japan and sign contracts.

Some critics even compared that Japanese scheme equal to human trafficking

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14675668

https://www.business-humanrights.org/ja/%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9/japans-trainee-programme-human-trafficking-lawyer-japan/

@リッチ

20% are basically slave labor. Let’s call it as it is. Cheap 3rd world labor. Disgusting.

They the one who really keep Japanese economy going basically, however JGovt doesn't want them to stay in Japan that long. JGovt just want them to get those worker during productive ages.

https://eiglaw.com/japan-training-employment-program/

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/Japan-to-overhaul-troubled-foreign-trainee-program-3-things-to-know

In October 2024, the nation's foreign workforce stood at 2.3 million -- an increase of around 254,000 people from a year earlier, labour ministry data showed.

The total has jumped around threefold from a decade ago, in 2014, when the number of foreign workers stood at 788,000.

By 2040 Japan need 6.7 Million foreign workers, not ordinary workers, workers that willing to be paid low wages.

Because many of them have no idea about their condition before coming to Japan, those agents that recruit them in their home country basically they are salesman that try to convince by selling good living in Japan. All those agents need to do just get them into Japan and sign contracts.

LOL.... Right, none of them have friends or relatives that have been to Japan, None of them have access to the internet, none of them talk to each other..

They all know they will be doing the (banned word) jobs that Japanese don't want to do for the salary offered.

They all know that even that (banned word) salary is at least 4 times more than they can get at home.

There are instances of worker exploitation just as there is for Japanese workers.

as the country seeks to address labor shortages exacerbated by its aging population.

Wrong. Pay a decent wage, Japanese will do the jobs.

Well I am sorry but this is only going to accelerate as the demographics change and the highly educated high school kids go to university and don't want to do certain jobs. Here is a fact, the workers that are coming, are they ALL university graduates? Are they all coming here because they love Japan or because they can earn more even at rubbish jobs? If you have highly educated kids graduating high school, they don't want a career in serving food or working at a cafe or little shop.( some might for whatever reason) but, someone has to serve that drink, and food, and do the job nobody else wants. The idea that we are "bringing in highly skilled workers" isn't the whole truth. Yes.We are bringing the highly skilled in, but we are also bringing in the immigrants to do jobs the highly educated DO NOT WANT TO DO. We may not like that scenario but we need those workers, and the government needs the tax revenue as they work, and become consumers in Japan.

The highly educated trope is said by all politicians to make the general public feel good about immigration,(every country wants WORLD CLASS DOCTORS and engineers), but there is no way a politician would get re-elected if he said "We need more waiters, cleaners, cooks and dishwashers". I think it is a result of a highly educated workforce. The work may be seen as beneath them until they are unemployed.

As for those who break the law. A one-way ticket out is the best way.

sakurasukiToday  06:46 pm JST

IBy 2040 Japan need 6.7 Million foreign workers, not ordinary workers, workers that willing to be paid low wages.

No, Japan does not need any foreign workers at all. This same mantra has been repeated in Europe and it simply does not work. Do NOT open the flood gates when you are already drowning.

One Vietnamese person does something bad and all of the biased people show up. Their ethnic groups are just as bad.

GuruMick....

White western people making claims about " foreigners " nothing new.

Nothing to do with skin color, but some cultures are more beneficial to some countries than others. The host nation has the right to choose.

Mr KiplingToday  08:38 pm JST

GuruMick....

White western people making claims about " foreigners " nothing new.

Nothing to do with skin color, but some cultures are more beneficial to some countries than others. The host nation has the right to choose.

So, they should completely ban one nationality or 'culture' based on the actions of a small few? Ridiculous. Each person is an individual and all judgement of that person should be based solely on that one individual, not what their collective countrymen have done, whether it's good or bad.

Always enjoy reading the comments on stories involving Japan’s foreign population. Always a good chuckle reading comments from the long term native-English-speaking residents who seem to forget they’re foreign. They don’t seem to realize that to the average Japanese person, or in the eyes of the law, they’re no different to the Vietnamese or Chinese foreigners in the news stories they post their condescending comments about. Thanks for the chuckles, guys! Keep it up!

I find it funny given that in our very recent trip, we were scammed by 80+ years old grandmas, Japanese shopping mall employees and Japanese bros in pubs. Even people we kinda knew were hanging out with us because we were paying for everything. You could see in people's eye, we were a fair game. Rich tourists that needs to be exploited. That all high and mighty image of Japanese is a lie. They are not that nice and friendly, and they can not even speak English.

I say all foreigner workers we deal with in hotels or Conbini were much nicer and they could even speak English.

These are very fresh observations from Japan.

My advice for Japan is to be careful with incentivizing having children. Carried too far, that strategy can become a problem in itself. Income tax credits are fairly safe, but beyond that, look out for trouble.

Our US system is a perfect example of how not to do it: government support for having unlimited numbers of babies, no job, and no income. Paying women to have children and remain single and unemployed is a dis-service to all (especially the kids). Being an unemployed, single mother has become a career in the US.

Bret TToday 02:15 am JST

If a woman does manage to survive solely on her child welfare she is going to be doing a full time job of raising them or they will end up in protective services. And the benefits expire when they turn 18.

@Mocheake

One Vietnamese person does something bad and all of the biased people show up. Their ethnic groups are just as bad.

Excuse me, one Vietnamese? Not only one, just check overstayer information in Japan, number one is Vietnamese, more than Chinese and South Korea.

https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/press/13_00048.html

@WeiWei

No, Japan does not need any foreign workers at all. This same mantra has been repeated in Europe and it simply does not work. Do NOT open the flood gates when you are already drowning.

Who will pay tax? Who will be labor, even cheaper one? Who will pay pension fund? Who will be customer for Japanese goods?

Even JGovt by providing new category visa, they already admit they have issue with population decline. Don't want all this problem, simple just keep maintain population number, deliver more babies, can Japanese do that?

So, they should completely ban one nationality or 'culture' based on the actions of a small few? Ridiculous. Each person is an individual and all judgement of that person should be based solely on that one individual, not what their collective countrymen have done.

In most cases I agree, but not immigration. The host country has the right to decide who comes in, immigration is for the benefit of the host country. If the people of one country constantly fall foul of the law or have ideas that run against those of the host, it is only natural to cut their numbers. Is that "fair" to the good people from the cut country? No, but its not about them.

Mr. Kipling....most "foreign workers " I see here are under 35 years old , and I wonder if Japan, like Australia, has a scheme for young people to work in Japan on a visa limited to a few years or more.

Schemes like these are designed to promote inter country understanding and contact as much as provide a labour force.

You do seem a little fixated on the "foreigner problem " in Japan.

I wonder if such a problem exists outside a jaded imagination.