Japan’s appeal as place of work on the wane among foreigners, survey

The number of foreigners wanting to work in Japan could be on the wane, according to the results of a recent survey whose creators suggest the success of the type 2 skilled worker visa will be key in increasing the country’s appeal.

In the survey carried out by human resources company Mynavi Global Corp., foreign residents of Japan were asked if they wish to work or continue working in the country after the expiration of their current status of residence. While 91.0 percent of respondents said yes, this represented a decrease of 5.8 percent from two years ago when the same survey was last carried out. 

Among those respondents who said that they had no desire to work or continue working in Japan, the weak value of the Japanese yen was the most commonly reason for their response, cited by 38.5 percent of respondents. This was followed by a poor working environment, including long hours, at 30.8 percent and the desire to live with family in the respondent’s home country, at 25.0 percent. Low salaries was cited by 19.2 percent of respondents.

Mynavi Global primarily offers support to people from Southeast Asia in securing jobs with Japanese companies, focusing on the specified skilled worker status of residence.

By country, the largest drop in desire to work in Japan was seen among respondents from Vietnam. While 85.9 percent of respondents from the country said that they wanted to work in Japan this represented a decrease of 12.1 percent from two years ago. The percentage of respondents from Vietnam who said that they did not want to work in Japan was also the highest by country, at 10.8 percent. Respondents from Indonesia followed some distance behind at just 1.8 percent.

Japan’s specified skilled visa program was introduced in April 2019 to attract foreign workers to the country in an effort to address labor shortages. 

The program offers two types of status. Under the Specified Skilled Worker Type 1, foreigners with certain Japanese language and vocational skills can stay in the country for up to five years and are permitted to find work in 16 industries, including road and railway transportation as well as forestry and timber which were added in late March.

Under the status Specified Skilled Worker Type 2, workers with greater proficiency are able to renew their status of residence without limit on the number of times and may be able to bring family members into the country to reside with them. The first Type 2 status was issued in April 2022 to a Chinese man working in construction.

The Type 2 status, which initially only covered work in construction and shipbuilding, was expanded last year to cover 11 industries.

Respondents of the Mynavi Global survey were asked if they were aware of the expansion of the Type 2 status, to which 76.8 percent said that they were. 63.6 percent also said that they would like, to some degree, to work in Japan under the Type 2 status with the possibility of permanent residence, of bringing family members into Japan, and the status covering a specific industry or occupation which matches their skill set, the most commonly cited reasons for this.

“The percentage of respondents who want to work in Japan decreased by 5.8 percent from two years ago, highlighting that concerns regarding a decline in Japan's appeal are already being realized,” Mynavi Global Inc. President Motoki Yuzuriha commented.

“Among Vietnamese in particular, there has been a noticeable shift in interest away from Japan.”

“On the other hand, the survey results revealed a high recognition and willingness to work under the Specified Skilled Worker Type 2 status. It’s likely that increasing the number of people working under this status as planned will be key in making Japan more attractive in the future,“ Yuzuriha said.

The Mynavi Global survey was carried out online over a period between January and February this year. The survey received 582 valid responses from foreigners resident in Japan, including registered users of Mynavi Global and international students from affiliated Japanese language schools.