Japan Workforce News Today

The Japanese government adopted plans on Friday, February 9, 2024, to scrap its current foreign trainee program, which has been criticized as a cover for importing cheap labor, and replace it with a system it says will actually teach skills and safeguard trainees' rights as Japan desperately seeks more foreign workers to supplement its aging and shrinking workforce.

Over half of companies in Japan are suffering from a shortage of full-time employees as the countrys labor crunch, caused by the aging population but temporarily eased due to the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, is compounded by recovering economic activities, a recent survey has found.