Japan set to gather foreign worker data for better support

Japan plans to launch a new survey in fiscal 2023 to collect data on foreign workers, such as their income and types of employment, to better accommodate their needs, according to the labor ministry.

The number of foreign workers in Japan rose to a record 1.73 million as of last October amid a workforce shortage, labor ministry data showed, but the government currently has only basic information on them, such as their residency status, nationality and workplace size.

Critics have pointed out that the government has been unable to come up with adequate support measures for foreign workers since it does not know their actual employment conditions.

Concrete plans for data collection will be formulated in fiscal 2022 beginning in April, before the planned start of the survey the following year. The data will become comparable to labor statistics of Japanese nationals, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

An interim report on the envisioned survey compiled by an expert panel showed earlier this month that the statistics will initially cover offices that hire foreign workers, including technical interns under a government-sponsored program.

The survey will ask employers of foreign workers about their income, types of jobs, and the length of service, among others, in line with questions in the existing government statistics such as those on employment status and trends.

The survey also includes questions specific to foreigners, such as their proficiency in Japanese, native language, the duration of stay and amount of remittances, in addition to basic ones such as age and gender.

Earlier this year, the ministry and the Immigration Services Agency began another survey to grasp the financial situations of foreign technical trainees, as money problems seem to be a key reason many abruptly leave their host firms.

Thousands of such trainees leave their designated host companies without notice every year seeking better wages, among other reasons.