The Japanese prime minister announced plans to increase the number of workers from abroad but did not give a figure. According to the preliminary estimates, Japan set to allow up to 340,000 workers from other Asian countries over 5 years amid employee shortage, Kyodo News reported.
Japan will welcome between 260,000 and 340,000 could arrive over five years from 2019, all those people are going to close the gap amid employee shortage. Prime minister was facing questions as it emerged the country is set to admit additional foreign workers while Japan is in a desperate bid to offset its decline in the workforce.
In other words, the upcoming changes in labour law would be a dramatic shift in immigration policy for Japan. Although critics expressed concern that a wave of foreign workers could lead to a jump in crime, the under-qualified foreign workers also could place too much strain on the social security system.
Shinzo Abe plans an amendment to immigration law which would include a new visa for foreign workers with “specified skills,” which could work in each of more than a dozen industries, including farming and nursing. If the amendment passes the Japanese parliament next month, up to 47,000 people from other countries arrive in 2019.
PM told the Parliament: “Barring a significant change in circumstances we won’t accept workers beyond these levels.” he added that unless circumstances drastically change we won’t accept more workers than shown by the estimated figure. “In that sense it’s a cap,” he explained.
In fact, the next year will bring a lot of changes to Japan, Japanese businesses are set to have 600,000 fewer workers than necessary. The number of foreign workers in Japan has already been rising, especially in heavy industries like manufacturing and construction, in recent years.
