An Overview of the Current Foreign Worker Employment Situation Based on Official Data

Statuses of residence in professional or technical fields increased by 30,486 (9.3%) year on year, and Technical Intern Training increased by 18,378 (4.8%). On the other hand, study under activities outside the status of residence decreased by 11,721 (3.7%) year on year, and Long-Term Residents among status-based statuses of residence also decreased by 812 (0.7%).

Foreign Worker Employment by Region

Looking at growth rates by prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture rose 22.2% year on year, Chiba Prefecture rose 15.5%, and Tochigi Prefecture rose 15.4%.

Foreign Worker Employment by Industry

By industry share of foreign workers, manufacturing accounted for 19.3%, wholesale and retail trade for 18.1%, and accommodation and food services for 13.9%. By growth rate of industry share, construction rose 20.5% year on year, medical care and welfare rose 18.0%, and wholesale and retail trade rose 14.3%.

By prefecture and industry, manufacturing accounts for a high share in many regions; in Ehime, manufacturing stands at 63.4%. In Tokyo, accommodation and food services, wholesale and retail trade, and services (not elsewhere classified) account for high shares at 21.3%, 19.2%, and 15.9%, respectively. By status of residence and industry, statuses of residence in professional or technical fields are concentrated in manufacturing (17.9%), information and communications (15.4%), and wholesale and retail trade (13.8%). By nationality and industry, manufacturing has the highest share for Indonesia, Brazil, Peru, Vietnam, the Philippines, and China, at 42.5%, 42.0%, 38.7%, 36.0%, 35.6%, and 23.0%, respectively.

For Korea, wholesale and retail trade accounts for 20.3%, and for Nepal, accommodation and food services accounts for 29.4%. Looking at the composition of foreign workers employed at establishments engaged in worker dispatching or contracting by nationality, the shares are high for Brazil and Peru, at 52.6% and 40.2%, respectively.

Summary of the Foreign Worker Employment Situation

The number of foreign workers was 1,724,328, up 65,524 (4.0%) year on year, setting a record high since notification became mandatory in 2007. However, the growth rate fell sharply by 9.6 percentage points from 13.6% the previous year.

The number of establishments employing foreign workers was 267,243, up 24,635 (10.2%) year on year, also a record high since notification became mandatory in 2007. The growth rate, however, fell by 1.9 percentage points from 12.1% the previous year.

By nationality, Vietnam overtook China to rank first at 443,998 (25.7% of all foreign workers), followed by China at 419,431 (24.3%) and the Philippines at 184,750 (10.7%). Meanwhile, Brazil, Peru, and some other nationalities declined year on year. By status of residence, workers with statuses of residence in professional or technical fields numbered 359,520, up 30,486 (9.3%) year on year. Technical Intern Training stood at 402,356, up 18,378 (4.8%) year on year. On the other hand, activities outside the status of residence (including study) numbered 370,346, down 2,548 (0.7%) year on year.

Trends in Active Job Openings for Positions Using Foreign Languages at Hello Work

Active job openings at Hello Work for positions using foreign languages fell by as much as about 60% year on year before gradually recovering. Even this year, however, they have remained roughly flat at about 50% below the same month two years earlier and have not yet escaped the impact of COVID-19.

A major factor is thought to be a sharp decline in openings for international-relations work within professional or technical fields. By occupation, active openings using foreign languages have seen large declines since May compared with January of last year in services and sales, among other fields. Occupations tied to inbound tourism have shown especially large drops and appear to have been heavily affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.

Source: Summary of Notification Status of “Employment of Foreign Workers”

Target Numbers for Accepting Specified Skilled Workers (by Field)

1. Nursing care: 60,000
2. Building cleaning: 37,000
3. Formed and fabricated materials industries: 21,500
4. Industrial machinery manufacturing: 5,250
5. Electric and electronic information-related industries: 4,700
6. Construction: 40,000
7. Shipbuilding and ship machinery: 13,000
8. Automobile maintenance: 7,000
9. Aviation: 2,200
10. Accommodation: 22,000
11. Agriculture: 36,500
12. Fishery: 9,000
13. Food and beverage manufacturing: 34,000
14. Food service: 53,000

Fulfillment Rates for Acceptance as of the End of March 2021

1. Nursing care: 1,705 (1.6%)

2. Building cleaning: 281 (0.5%)

3. Formed and fabricated materials industries: 1,669 (5.7%)

4. Industrial machinery manufacturing: 1,937 (23.8%)

5. Electric and electronic information-related industries: 994 (15.4%)

6. Construction: 2,116 (3.3%)

7. Shipbuilding and ship machinery: 592 (3.2%)

8. Automobile maintenance: 247 (2.2%)

9. Aviation: 16 (0.6%)

10. Accommodation: 83 (0.3%)

11. Agriculture: 3,359 (6.5%)

12. Fishery: 314 (2.4%)

13. Food and beverage manufacturing: 8,104 (17%)

14. Food service: 1,150 (1.9%)

As this headcount table also shows, fulfillment rates are higher in manufacturing fields such as items 4 and 5.

For these fields, the original target numbers were also relatively low, which can be said to have contributed to these results. In addition, for the three manufacturing fields, the field is determined when applying to join the relevant council, but the criteria for which field to join are somewhat ambiguous, and it is not entirely clear whether fields are always confirmed appropriately.

Fields hit hard by COVID-19, such as aviation, accommodation, and food service, appear to have low fulfillment rates. On the other hand, the relatively high fulfillment rate in food and beverage manufacturing, as in manufacturing more broadly, can be attributed to these being fields less affected by COVID-19.