This article introduces the Specified Skilled Worker system, which took effect in April 2019, with a focus on trends in the number of Specified Skilled Workers employed in Japan.

The number of Specified Skilled Workers employed in Japan is published on the Immigration Services Agency of Japan website.

Here, we review the published trends in those numbers and offer an outlook on the future acceptance of Specified Skilled Workers.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of June 2019

At that time, only 20 Specified Skilled Workers were residing in Japan nationwide.

Of those, 18 were Specified Skilled Workers accepted in the manufacturing field, and 11 held Thai nationality.

At that point, the Specified Skilled Worker system had been in place for only a little over two months, information on application procedures was limited, and few companies were seeking to use the system, which likely kept the numbers low.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of December 2019

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan had increased to 1,621 nationwide.

Vietnamese nationals accounted for the largest share at 901, followed by Indonesian nationals at 189, Filipino nationals at 111, Myanmar nationals at 100, Chinese nationals at 100, and other nationalities.

Compared with the end of June, the number of Specified Skilled Workers had increased substantially, and as with technical intern trainees, the number of Vietnamese nationals had grown. Most foreign nationals who became Specified Skilled Workers had completed Technical Intern Training (ii) or higher.

The large number of Technical Intern Training completers is because foreign nationals who have completed Technical Intern Training (ii) or higher are unconditionally deemed to meet the skills and Japanese language requirements for becoming Specified Skilled Workers.

At that time, few skills evaluation examinations for becoming Specified Skilled Workers were being administered, and from the perspective of accepting organizations, hiring foreign nationals who had already acquired skills over three years of Technical Intern Training offered greater advantages.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of March 2020

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan stood at 3,987 nationwide.

Compared with the end of December 2019, the number had increased, but it cannot be said to have grown substantially.

One major reason is that the impact of COVID-19 was becoming significant worldwide around that time.

COVID-19 affected not only Japan’s economy but also new entries into the country, and from around this period the growth rate in the number of Specified Skilled Workers slowed.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of June 2020

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan stood at 5,950 nationwide.

As at the end of March 2020, the slowdown in the growth rate due to COVID-19 continued.

In addition, the first state of emergency was declared from April 7 to May 25, 2020, which also had a major impact on the acceptance of Specified Skilled Workers

and therefore led to a slowdown in the growth rate.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of September 2020

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan stood at 8,769 nationwide.

As at the end of June 2020, the slowdown in the growth rate due to COVID-19 continued.

Although entry into Japan was possible for some nationalities during this period, the impact of COVID-19 remained significant, and new entry as Specified Skilled Workers was difficult.

Because it was also difficult for foreign nationals in Japan to return home, many who had completed Technical Intern Training could not leave the country, and cases of switching to Designated Activities while waiting to return home increased.

For some foreign nationals who obtained Designated Activities status, production declines and other factors at the companies where they had been technical intern trainees meant they could not work there; this period also saw more cases of people seeking employment at other companies or remaining in Japan while receiving unemployment insurance.

Under Designated Activities, a status of residence of up to 12 months could be granted under certain conditions, and job changes to occupations different from those engaged in during Technical Intern Training also became possible. This was a period when more people aimed for Specified Skilled Worker status after first obtaining Designated Activities rather than transitioning directly.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of December 2020

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan stood at 15,663 nationwide.

Around this time, most Specified Skilled Workers had transitioned within Japan from statuses such as technical intern trainee or international student through the relevant procedures.

Because new foreign nationals could not enter Japan, many cases involved accepting Technical Intern Training completers within Japan under the Designated Activities status of residence, or hiring foreign nationals who had completed Technical Intern Training at other companies as Specified Skilled Workers after interviews and similar processes.

In some fields such as agriculture, technical intern trainees expected for busy seasons did not enter Japan, causing serious labor shortages, and organizations used Specified Skilled Worker and Designated Activities statuses to recruit foreign nationals already in Japan

and actively hire them in many cases.

Number of Specified Skilled Workers as of the End of March 2021

At that time, the number of Specified Skilled Workers residing in Japan stood at 22,567 nationwide.

Despite the impact of repeated states of emergency and other factors, as a substitute for technical intern trainees and Specified Skilled Workers who cannot enter the country,

many companies are accepting international talent already in Japan as Specified Skilled Workers, which is presumed to be why the number of Specified Skilled Workers has increased.

In addition, although transitions of talent already in Japan to Specified Skilled Worker status have continued from the end of March 2021 to the present, there is no sign that the impact of COVID-19 in Japan is abating, and the pandemic has also worsened in many Southeast Asian countries, so entry of Specified Skilled Workers from overseas is expected to remain delayed for some time, as with other foreign nationals.

On top of that, overseas administration of skills evaluation examinations for becoming Specified Skilled Workers has also been delayed, and other developments such as political instability in Myanmar have created various headwinds against growth in the number of Specified Skilled Workers.

Even so, once COVID-19 settles down, Japan is expected to face labor shortages again. While it is highly likely that the five-year acceptance target for Specified Skilled Workers will not be met, going forward more Specified Skilled Worker international talent will gradually be hired, especially in fields such as nursing care.

On the other hand, the food service and accommodation fields have been hit hard by COVID-19, with many Japanese workers also becoming unemployed, so hiring of Specified Skilled Workers in these fields is expected to stagnate for some time.

Summary

As of April 2019, the government’s announced acceptance target for Specified Skilled Workers was a maximum total of 345,150 people over five years across the 14 industries covered by the Specified Skilled Worker system.

In practice, even as of the end of March 2021, about two years later, there were only about 22,000 people, so progress toward the target can be said to be substantially behind schedule.

Note: the figures in this article run only to March 2021

The figures above are the official numbers published up to the end of March 2021, as introduced when this article was last updated in June 2022. The number of foreign nationals residing under Specified Skilled Worker status has kept growing since then, so the totals and the breakdowns by nationality and field no longer match the current figures. For the latest numbers by nationality and field, see the Immigration Services Agency of Japan's page on the number of Specified Skilled Workers (in Japanese).