Foreigners In The Workforce

[Mulboyne]

The Nikkei reports (Japanese) the results of a Ministry of Labour survey which indicates that foreigners make up 0.26% of the workforce of companies listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei believes this suggests that opportunities for foreign workers remain limited despite the prospects of a declining population reducing the domestic supply of labour in the future. Although not explicity stated, this data appears to refer to foreigners working within Japan and so necessarily excludes workers employed overseas. It does, however, include part-timers which makes the numbers seem too low. I would guess that the company responses refer to foreigners directly employed by the parent company which would mean that it obviously excludes employees on assignment but might also exclude foreigners on the books of unconsolidated, or perhaps even consolidated, subsidiaries. First Section companies are generally older or larger enterprises and the survey also reported that only 52% currently had foreign employees on the payroll - with an average number of 17 - while over 38% had never employed non-Japanese labour. 25% of these foreigners were earning a salary of around 4 million yen a year while 18% were getting around 3 million. The majority were receiving less. 255 companies responded to the survey. 52% of that number would be 133 companies and an average of 17 employees makes a total of 2,261 so we aren't talking about a many people here. Earlier this year, as mentioned in this thread, the Labour Ministry reported results of another survey which found that 338,813 foreigners were working at companies in Japan based on the new reporting requirements for employers. Since this is a much more substantial number, perhaps the main point the Nikkei can make, then, is that foreigners have not yet been successfully brought in to the mainstream recruitment process at Japan's major corporations.