Japan's immigration policy loosens the demand for skilled workers in five major industries.

Japan's five major industries will welcome foreign workers on a large scale

According to the Financial Times, Japan will allow up to 500,000 foreign workers to enter in order to alleviate the labor shortage. At the cabinet meeting at the beginning of this month, Japan decided to grant residency to five labor industries that urgently need "designated skills", such as agriculture, social care, construction, hotels and shipbuilding.

Japan's construction industry and other five industries are in urgent need of labor.

If the new plan is passed by the Japanese cabinet, it will mean that Japan recognizes the reality of its labor shortage and the major shift in its increasing dependence on foreign workers. Japan, which resolutely opposed immigration at that time, had to "bow its head" in the face of labor shortage.

However, Japanese officials are unwilling to admit that this is a "new immigration policy". Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the new measures are not an immigration policy, and foreign workers are not allowed to work in Japan for more than five years, nor can they bring their families to Japan. However, he still admitted the fact of labor shortage. Abe said: "The labor shortage is getting more and more serious, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises in some areas. Therefore, we urgently need a framework to accept all kinds of skilled foreign workers with certain skills. "

The number of foreign workers reached 654.38 million+280,000, of which China and Viet Nam had the largest number.

According to the data released by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare1October 26th, as of last year, the number of foreign workers in Japan reached1278,700, a year-on-year increase of 18%. Since the Japanese government required enterprises to declare in 2007, it has grown for five consecutive years and hit a record high.

In terms of nationality, the number and proportion of workers in China reached 372,263, accounting for 29. 1% of the total number of foreign workers. The Vietnamese labor force is 240,000, accounting for18.8%; Filipino laborers account for 1 1.5%, and the number is 147438+00000. In terms of growth rate, Vietnam increased by about 40% year-on-year, and the number of workers in Nepal increased by 3 1%, reaching 69 1 1.

At present, the types of residence visas held by foreign workers in Japan mainly include "skills internship system residence", "study visa" and "high-end talent residence qualification".

The "residency qualification of skills internship system" for foreign workers as interns in the front line of labor is 258,000, and the number of international students is 260,000, both increasing by more than 20%; Nearly 80% of the workers with skills internship qualifications are engaged in manufacturing or construction, while more than half of the workers with study abroad qualifications are engaged in wholesale, retail or service-related fields.

The number of people qualified to stay in "professional and technical fields" such as high-end talents also reached 238,000, up 18.6% year-on-year.

Japan's total population continues to decline, and its immigration policy still lags behind.

From a larger perspective, the decline and aging of Japan's total population are the main reasons for Japan's labor shortage. According to the research of SentakusuruMirai Committee of Japan, the population of Japan is about 65.438+0.27 billion at present, and it will drop to 86.74 million by 2060 (40% of them are elderly people over 65), which is roughly equivalent to the current population of Germany.

If the population structure is not improved, according to pessimistic expectations, by 2 1 10, the population of Japan will further decrease to 42.86 million, and the elderly over 65 will account for 4 1.3%.

Japan's population size forecast

At present, Japan's population pyramid shows that the proportion of young people under the age of 30 has dropped sharply, while the proportion of middle-aged and elderly people is accelerating.

The age structure of Japanese population

Faced with the problems of decreasing domestic population and labor force, insufficient freshmen and lagging immigration policy, the Nikkei Chinese website commented: "Japan's system of accepting foreign workers is slow. The government has a positive attitude towards accepting high-end talents, but it is still not allowed to accept pure manual workers. In fact, through the skill internship system and international students, the number of foreigners engaged in manual labor in Japan is increasing rapidly. Although enterprises wishing to use foreigners are also increasing, the number of interns and the number of years they can work are limited. "

Even though the plan to introduce overseas workers is advancing, there are still many voices of opposition in Japan. Worried about the entry of foreign workers, the impact on the unique Japanese national culture, the social friction between domestic residents and new immigrants, and the impact on public security and living environment are the main concerns. In addition, the Japanese proficiency of immigrants and their ability to integrate into Japanese society are also the focus of debate in various circles in Japan.