Global News

Foreign workforce in Japan makes up only 1%

Though Japanese businesses are expanding their overseas operations and gaining profit from export, the progress in hiring foreign employees domestically is not so evident.
According to the survey conducted by Institute of Labor Research and Training in January 2007, only 9.6% of Japanese companies have hired exchange students as full-time employees in the past three years. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has estimated in 2005 that there are about 630,000 foreigner workers in Japan (including Brazilians of Japanese descent, as well as illegal workers). This is about 1% of the 66-million working population in Japan.
The number of foreign workers in UK is seven times greater than in Japan according to the OECD statistics and the UK is an island nation with half of Japan population. web page monitoring . What this means is that Japanese companies have not created a foundation for accepting foreign white-collar workers. Only a handful of big businesses such as car and electronics manufacturers have appointed foreign CEOs.

However, businesses do feel an effect from hiring foreigners. Opening doors to foreign workers is indispensable in order to keep pace with the increasingly competitive and globalizing economies.