Despite its continued economic growth, Japan’s labour shortage is getting worse
By Elisabeth Perlman
17 November 2017
The head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has called for changes to thecountry’s tight immigration controls amid a “worsening and intensifying” labour shortage.
Akio Mimura, JCCI’s chairman, said that the Japanese government should set up a committee tasked with exploring different ways for the country to modernise its immigration system to allow for more foreign workers.
Japan has already introduced some measures to attract overseas talent, including accepting more trainee workers from developing countries, while also creating a new visa status for nurses and domestic helpers.
But Mimura wants to see bigger changes.
His comments focused on the foundation of the country’s economy — small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which employ 70 percent of the Japanese workforce.
The proportion of SMEs with labour shortage problems increased for a third consecutive year to 60 percent in 2016, according to a JCCI survey of more than 2,700 SMEs published in July... more