Weak Yen Unravels Japan’s Quest for Foreign Workers
- Vietnam is Japan’s largest source of personnel from overseas
- Number of prospective recruits falling along with currency
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The yen’s recent slump has taken the sheen off Japan as a destination for foreign workers, a worrying sign for an aging economy in desperate need of more people to keep its factories, farms and care homes running.
Japan’s government, which historically maintained low rates of immigration, has gradually opened the door to overseas workers in recent years to make up for the dwindling population. As a result, the number of workers from overseas tripled in just over a decade to around 1.7 million by 2019, with Vietnam becoming the largest source of foreign workers in jobs from agriculture and manufacturing to IT.