TIC | 株式会社東京コンサルティング研究所

Management of foreigner laborers in Japanese

The Administrative Amendment Act Increase which to increase foreign workers is passed in Congress. It is scheduled to begin in April 2019. This act will open the country to simple workers who have not been recognized officially in the past. The aim is to alleviate the shortage of manpower caused by the decline in population. The workers who has the new status of residence, “Specific Skill No. 1” can work in Japan for a maximum of five years. The “Specific Skills No. 2” for skilled workers can update the status of residence. “Specific Skill No. 1” is for the 14 industries with deeply insufficient staff, such as agriculture, nursing care, and construction. This act is considered as one of the countermeasures to alleviate the reduction of the working population. However, since the beginning of the “technical internship” system, problems such as low wages and long working hours have not been resolved. Carrying out a new act while problems remains unresolved will surely lead to more chaos. Enterprises that employ foreign laborers need to adjust their employment systems and labor management methods, and urgently need to improve their training and evaluation systems. Not only for Japanese employees, but also for foreigner employees, Japanese companies need to construct a workplace environment that is convenient to work. Only the improvement of policies is not enough to change the situation. Only enterprises actively participate in the improvement can the currently faced problems be fundamentally solved.