Japan has a yen for foreign migrant workers

The Japanese government's plan to accept more foreign workers with pathways to citizenship, that takes effect this month, is a new frontier for Filipino migrant workers.

Filipino workers may corner at least 30 percent of some 350,000 jobs that Japan will offer to foreigners starting April 1, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on the weekend after Japan passed a controversial law that would enable skilled migrant workers to extend their stay from five to 10 years and bring in family members.

All foreign workers to be considered under this new law would have to pass a language competency and skills assessment tests.

Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda earlier noted that “Japan faces an aging society and lacks labor force, while the Philippines is abundant with young labor force with great potential.”

Bello and Japanese Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita last week signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) providing better protection for Filipino workers to be hired under a new specified skills residency in Japan.

The pact seeks to establish a basic partnership framework for the “proper operation of the system pertaining to foreign human resources” with the status of residence of “specified skilled worker” who possess certain expertise and skills in certain job categories.

 Among the specified skills include those in health care, building maintenance, food services, industrial machinery, electronics, food manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, construction, shipbuilding, fisheries and aquaculture, parts and tooling, and aviation.

Requirements to be hired as a specified skilled worker in Japan includes passing the skill level tests and Japanese proficiency, which will be administered by the Japan Foundation in the Philippines.

Japan is not used to having foreign workers in such great numbers. Unfortunately, in some sectors such as construction and nursing care, the ratio between job vacancies and local job applicants is 4:1. The ultra-conservative Japanese parliament felt it had no other recourse but to reluctantly open its doors wider to migrant workers in order to address the critical shortage of workers in 14 industries.  The number of foreign workers needed by Japan is sizable. For caregivers alone, the recruitment industry notes that at most 800,000 would be needed to look after the elderly.

Administrator Bernard Olalia of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration anticipates that Japan will be the next biggest labor destination country for Filipinos. An average Filipino caregiver in Japan can earn upward of P50,000 net of taxes. Once a Filipino worker is accepted as a technical intern, the Japanese principal will shoulder the tuition fee for his or her language training here in the Philippines.

Japan’s stable economy, lucrative salary scales, and proximity to the Philippines make it a better option for our skilled workers to consider, she said.

The Philippines, is one of the world’s biggest sources of migrant workers, with more than 10 million overseas workers.

 Filipino men make up less than 40 percent of that number. Of almost half a million Filipinos who left the country for a job abroad in 2017, 72 percent are women, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

The Philippines is, most years, the largest source of immigrants to Canada; more than 40,000 Filipinos settled here last year, and there are now almost a million Filipino-Canadians.

Philippines is also one of the largest sources of temporary foreign workers to Canada.

Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that personal remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) was at $2.75 billion in January, 4.4 percent more than the $2.38 billion remitted in the same month last year.

OFWs working in the United States of America contributed the lion's share of overall remittances, making up 35.5 percent of the total figure.

Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Hong Kong and Kuwait remitted more than 70 percent of the $2.75 billion.