Japan will take measures as early as October to enable foreign trainees to transfer jobs more easily, as the number of those who quit without notice due to poor working conditions and other reasons hit a record high of 9,753 in 2023, government sources said.
Under Japan's technical intern program, workers are prohibited from switching workplaces for the first three years in principle as they are asked to develop their skills in one area, while job transfer is permitted if there are "unavoidable circumstances."
The Immigration Services Agency will revise its guidelines, which have been criticized for being vague, to ensure they clearly state that job transfers are allowed if interns are abused or sexually harassed or there has been a malicious violation of laws and regulations at their workplaces, including a breach of contract.
The revised guidelines will also permit both victims of harassment and their coworkers to request transfers while allowing interns to take a part-time job of up to 28 hours per week over the period of their transfer to cover living expenses.
The number of people leaving trainee jobs without notice has been on the rise, climbing to 9,006 in 2022 from 5,885 in 2020. Preliminary figures for 2023 showed a further increase, with Vietnamese workers the largest contingent at 5,481, followed by Myanmar nationals at 1,765 and Chinese at 816, according to Justice Ministry sources.
Nearly half of the workers were involved in construction-related jobs, the sources said.
The revised guidelines will have a special provision for those unable to find a new employer as a trainee but wish to switch to the specified skilled worker scheme, enabling them to temporarily work under a designated activities visa until they pass the exam required to obtain the status.
The current foreign trainee program, which has been in place since 1993, has been criticized as simply being an avenue for Japan to import cheap labor.
The government will replace the program with a new system as early as 2027 that will permit job transfers after one or two years of employment at one workplace.
© KYODO
14 Comments
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factchecker
Treated like cattle and paid very poorly. It's a wonder they come at all.
Mr Kipling
Fact checker...
Because the conditions are better than their home country and the pay is 4 times as much.
リッチ
Slave labor and taking advantage of third world people. Japan are you proud??
Ligger2
They come to Japan because they think it will be better.
They leave because it isn't.
sakurasuki
@Mr Kipling
Here some facts.
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4 times may be true, before all cuts income tax, resident tax, mandatory pension scheme cut, mandatory health insurance cut, social insurance cut. They also need to pay their agent, that assist them to
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1dxyvpp/japans_pension_system_relying_on_foreigners_to/
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So how much amount from salary still left? They still need to pay debt that they have to cover cost preparation to Japan.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/About-80-of-Vietnamese-Cambodian-trainees-in-Japan-owe-debt
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Consider weak yen to that now is struggling to keep worth with foreign currency, that will make debt payment even longer
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Japan-s-new-enemy-in-fight-to-lure-immigrant-workers-The-
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Japan has been doing that for more than 30 years, what's the reason Japan will stop that? Japan loves cheap labors.
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Japan not only need workers, Japan really want cheap labors.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/Japan-headed-for-shortage-of-970-000-foreign-workers-in-2040
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Even with cheaper pay, some Japan companies even won't pay them.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/11/c21d735d36a9-vietnamese-trainees-call-out-unpaid-illegal-overtime-at-japan-firm.html
sakurasuki
Exactly, while employer keep telling to those trainee this is Japan and employee need to work hard, doing overtime and if necessary willing karoshi for their company. Because this is Japan.
sakurasuki
Exactly, it tell something about Japan. Japan will try to find new clueless young trainees just to keep increasing demand of cheap labor.
dagon
Keeping the interns overworked, underpaid and struggling is a feature, not a bug of the programs.
When it is decided abuse and violations are occuring; why aren't there arrests of the offending corporate staff?
That's what I want to know.
DatAss
We had three SEAs and an African, with an Iranian supervisor who could speak Japanese, knock down one of the houses on my street last month. The road was littered with broken glass, screws, and nails; no attempt whatsoever to clean up by any of them. Having grown up being culturally enriched in the west, and fortunate enough for diversity to have made me stronger, I spent most of the night out with a flashlight picking up the lethal detritus and saving my neighbours, bicycle riders, and visiting delivery drivers a fortune in punctures.
JeffLee
DatAss
I hope you filed a complaint of the company that employs them to your municipal government. That sounds quite dangerous.
factchecker
We had three SEAs and an African, with an Iranian supervisor who could speak Japanese, knock down one of the houses on my street last month. The road was littered with broken glass, screws, and nails; no attempt whatsoever to clean up by any of them. Having grown up being culturally enriched in the west, and fortunate enough for diversity to have made me stronger, I spent most of the night out with a flashlight picking up the lethal detritus and saving my neighbours, bicycle riders, and visiting delivery drivers a fortune in punctures.
All very convenient. The company gets a job done cheaply and any complaints they just blame on the foreigners who don't understand Japan's unique culture.
ian
Seems lacking? No stricter regulations and harsher penalties for abusive companies and employees?
owzer
You don't like that these trainees are making peanuts? Feel free to start a company and pay them 500k+/mo. and bonuses.
BertieWooster
Taxes in Japan are crippling. No wonder they want to leave. When I came to Japan many years ago there was NO consumption tax and income tax was not particularly high. Now, the government takes so much in taxes that it's difficult to make a decent living here.
smithinjapan
"The Immigration Services Agency will revise its guidelines, which have been criticized for being vague, to ensure they clearly state that job transfers are allowed if interns are abused or sexually harassed or there has been a malicious violation of laws and regulations at their workplaces, including a breach of contract."
And yet, no mention at all of those companies who sexually harass and/or otherwise abuse trainees being penalized or charged with crimes. Nope, can't have that!
It's no surprise that Japan is considered one of the leaders in human trafficking through this program in particular, and the government turning a bline eye to it.