LABOUR-JAPAN: Roll the Welcome Mat for Foreign Workers

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Dec 4 1999 (IPS) - Japan says it is ready to open the door — though not too wide — to foreign workers in a move designed to avert a looming labour crunch in the country in the wake of the rapid ageing of its society.

“Japan needs to accept more foreign labourers to a certain extent,” says Taichi Sakaiya, director general of the Economic Planning Agency, (EPA) who is spearheading a campaign to expand the current rules on foreign workers as part of recommendations for Japan’s new 10-year economic plan.

The EPA predicts that Japan’s decreasing birth rate — currently 1.3 babies per woman — will result in a lower national pension budget and force Japanese companies to reduce production as a result of a lack of workers.

Population surveys point out that after reaching a peak in 2007 of 128 million, Japan’s population is likely to decline for the first time in modern history. By 2010, they say, Japan will need a birthrate of 2.08 per cent to maintain its population.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare says local population will dip by 20 percent in 2050 if the current low birthrate continues. By 2010, it adds, Japanese over 65 years will make up 22 percent of the population.

Sakaiya, who heads a panel that advises Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on the subject, forecasts that in 10 years, the average Japanese company worker will be in his 50s or 60s, a situation that will severely restrict Japan’s economic development.

Sakiya is behind a programme that is now allowing long term visas for skilled foreigners who want to work in Japan.

Under recommendations from high-level officials, foreign workers hired by Japanese companies in jobs such as researchers, engineers, computer technicians, and other important professions, can hold one to three-year visas instead of the current average six-month visa.

The programme, however, does not cover unskilled labour — estimated to be around 270,000 who are working illegally in Japan — a sector that remains hotly debated among government agencies.

“Factories and farms are the worst hit as a result of lack of workers. But the government continues to refuse to acknowledge this sector and improve conditions for them, a policy that shows that the national guard against foreigners is still there,” says katsuo Yoshinori of Asian People’s Friendship Society, a support group comprised of Asian workers, Japanese lawyers and human rights activists.

Japan’s foreign population is slightly over 150 million, according to justice ministry data, out of which 280,000, or double the level a decade ago, are working as professionals.

The sudden decision to ease deep-rooted policies that sought to protect Japan from an influx of foreign labour lies in Japan’s desperate need to maintain its economic clout.

An EPA survey covering 3,000 companies discovered a growing need for foreign computer experts as there are not enough Japanese workers to take the jobs.

The government predicts that the country’s Internet business opportunities would grow into a hefty Yen 6.8 trillion (66 billion U.S. dollars) in the 21st century, resulting in the need for more than 300,000 computer software engineers, a situation which Japan would not be able to cope with.

Go No, a Chinese national who heads a firm that recruits Chinese computer experts, says he is bombarded by requests from Japanese companies. “I can’t keep up with the requests,” he says in an interview with the Japanese media. “Japanese companies are specially looking out for young technicians with software skills.”

Go says his company has grown in three years from a staff of three to 184 people, with income skyrocketing to 500 million yen last year.

Despite the government’s change of attitude, observers say Japan needs to legislate better settlement programmes for foreigners if it sincerely wants foreigners to believe they are welcome in Japan.

A pressing demand is to allow skilled workers to apply for permanent residence in Japan, such as is the situation in the United States and Canada.

“Many Chinese workers prefer to go to the West (rather than come to Japan) which offers them more security to build a future by giving them permanent status,” Go said.

The Justice Ministry offers permanent status or nationality to descendants of Japanese emigrants who left Japan, legalized in the late 19th century, in search of better fortunes in Latin American countries, the United States and Asia.

During the bubble economy in the eighties, Japanese companies took advantage of the new law to bring back thousands of second and third-generation Japanese to work in factories.

Yoshinori points out that Japan must first deal with the problem of illegal unskilled labour if it wants to show the world that foreigners can work in Japan.

“Illegal workers find work in Japan because Japanese workers are not taking those jobs. They have every right as skilled foreign labour because they are supporting industries and the Japanese economy as well,” he explained.