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<div class="gmail-article__header"><h1 class="gmail-article__title"><span class="ezstring-field">Japan to ease language requirements for unskilled foreign workers</span></h1><p class="gmail-article__sub-title"><span class="ezstring-field">Policy aims to bolster country's shrinking workforce in five key sectors</span></p><div class="gmail-article__details"><span class="gmail-article__author"><span class="ezstring-field">Nikkei staff writers</span></span><time class="gmail-article__date"><span class="gmail-moment-timezone-conversion gmail-card__timestamp--full-timestamp">
May 29, 2018 18:02 JST
</span></time></div></div><div class="gmail-article__content"><img class="gmail-img-fluid" src="https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com%2Fpsh-ex-ftnikkei-3937bb4%2Fimages%2F0%2F9%2F9%2F2%2F14022990-2-eng-GB%2F2018-0529-foreign-workers-main.jpg?source=nar-cms"><span class="gmail-article__caption">
Vietnamese trainees work at a building site in Tokyo on May 22. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
</span><div class="gmail-share gmail-no-print"><a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Japan to ease language requirements for unskilled foreign workers&url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers" class="gmail-share__icon gmail-share__icon--twitter" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers" class="gmail-share__icon gmail-share__icon--facebook" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers&title=Japan to ease language requirements for unskilled foreign workers&summary=Policy aims to bolster country's shrinking workforce in five key sectors&source=" class="gmail-share__icon gmail-share__icon--linkedin" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers&text=Japan to ease language requirements for unskilled foreign workers&hl=en" class="gmail-share__icon gmail-share__icon--google" target="_blank"></a><a href="mailto:?subject=Japan to ease language requirements for unskilled foreign workers&body=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers" class="gmail-share__icon gmail-share__icon--mail"></a></div><div class="ezrichtext-field"><p>TOKYO
-- The Japanese government plans to ease restrictions on unskilled
foreign nationals seeking to work in Japan, Nikkei learned Tuesday, as
the country grapples with a serious labor shortage.</p><p>The new
policy, which will ease Japanese language requirements for overseas
workers, will be incorporated into a work permit system and included in
draft economic policy guidelines to be finalized by June.</p><p>The
change marks a significant shift in Japan's policy regarding overseas
workers. Under current rules, work permits are issued mainly to skilled
professionals.</p><div class="gmail-ads__upper-inline-container"></div><p>The
government hopes to attract more than 500,000 overseas workers by 2025
to five industries especially hard hit by a lack of unskilled labor.
Japan had 1.27 million registered foreign workers last year, according
to health ministry figures.</p><p>The new work permits will
apply to construction, agriculture, lodging, nursing care, shipbuilding
and related manufacturing. Applicants will be required to take
occupational and Japanese language tests designed for each type of work
by industry associations.</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread" style="margin:auto;max-width:550px"><div style=""><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div></div></div><p>The
draft guidelines, called the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal
Management and Reform, will call for creating a new class of work
permits valid for up to five years. Details are still to be fleshed out.</p><p>Under
the existing Technical Intern Training Program foreign workers are
permitted to stay up to five years. The new qualification system will
exempt those who have finished the training program from testing.</p><p>As
for the Japanese language requirements, foreign nationals will have to
be "capable of understanding slow conversations," in principle. People
are typically able to acquire that level of proficiency after around 300
hours of study, according to Japan Educational Exchanges and Services,
which conducts Japanese language testing.</p><p>As for the construction
and agricultural sectors, even those who have not acquired that basic
level of Japanese skill will be eligible for work permits. With respect
to technical skills, the government will consider using tests devised
and conducted by industry bodies.</p><p>The construction sector is
expected to face a shortage of 780,000 to 930,000 people by 2025. The
government aims to accept a total 300,000 of foreign construction
workers through the program.</p><p>The labor shortage in agriculture is
exacerbated by the aging of Japan's farmers. The program will likely try
to bring in 26,000 to 83,000 overseas farmworkers to make up for an
estimated shortfall of 46,000 to 103,000 workers by 2023.</p><p>Demand
for caregivers for the elderly continues to grow as Japan ages. The
government estimates the workforce in that sector needs to grow by
550,000 by the end of fiscal 2025. It has tried to attract more hands by
introducing measures to raise pay. But it has concluded there are not
enough domestic workers to fill the gap, so it hopes to bring in 10,000
workers from abroad.</p><p>Japan's contingent of overseas workers has
grown by about 600,000 since Prime Minster Shinzo Abe became prime
minister for the second time in 2012, mainly through the technical
intern program, which aims to provide on-the-job training to foreign
nationals for certain unskilled jobs.</p><p>The country's labor shortage
is becoming the biggest single challenge for the economy. The
government estimates Japan's working-age population -- those between the
ages of 15 and 64 -- will shrink by about 15 million from current
levels by fiscal 2040.</p><div id="gmail-AdAsia"></div><div class="gmail-o-ads gmail-article__advert gmail-article__advert--center"><div class="gmail-o-ads__outer"><div class="gmail-o-ads__inner" id="gmail-o-ads-slot-6290-gpt"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_7049/NikkeiFT_PC_Inread_video_0__container__" style="border:0pt none"></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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