The government’s plan to create a new system to allow Japanese companies to hire foreign workers should be a clear break from the notorious technical intern program, which has been criticized for exploiting foreigners in weak positions.

The government is considering a new program to train and secure foreign workers to replace the technical intern training program, which has been in place for three decades ostensibly as a part of Japan’s “international contribution.”

A panel of experts is expected to release a final report on the proposal this autumn. An interim report was released on April 19.

The current intern training program has long been a hotbed of labor exploitation that violates human rights through, for example, long working hours or “power harassment,” a form of workplace harassment or workplace bullying of workers by people in superior or more powerful positions.

Editorials in The Asahi Shimbun have been calling for the program's abolition.

The government’s latest move, long overdue, is a natural one. But it is not totally reassuring as the envisioned new program has some of the problematic elements in the current system.

With regard to the intern training program, there has been a wide gap between its ostensible purpose--international contribution through human development--and the reality where foreign workers have been used to fill labor shortages.

If the new system will drop the pretense of international contribution and allow companies to employ foreign workers simply to fill their staffing needs, it should be fully in compliance with all labor laws and regulations to protect the rights of workers.

From this point of view, there are serious doubts and questions about the blueprint on the table.

The biggest problem with the intern program has been that foreign trainees are not allowed to switch workplaces, a rule that has forced them to endure or flee if their employers do not treat them well. The new program will also impose, albeit looser, restrictions on changing jobs.

Companies struggling to deal with labor shortages naturally want workers who will stay with them at least for a certain period. But this does not justify compelling foreign workers to do so.

Another potential problem is that the new system will also adopt the current matching system in which supervisory organizations in Japan, which are supposed to assist technical interns with their lives and livelihoods, will serve as intermediaries between organizations in their countries that make the arrangements for them and their Japanese employers.

There is no convincing argument for maintaining this approach, which could perpetuate the current situation in which most trainees are indebted when they come to Japan as they have paid a lot in fees to brokers in their countries.

It has been pointed out that supervisory organizations tend to place the interests of Japanese employers before protecting and supporting foreign trainees.

A new specified skilled worker program, launched in 2019, allows foreign nationals with specific expertise and skills to work in Japan. Three-quarters of workers who have obtained the specified skilled worker status of residence are those who have transferred from the training program.

This program allows foreign workers to switch workplaces. Instead of trying to create a new system, the government should expand, improve and upgrade the specified skilled worker program.

This program, however, is also riddled with flaws, including the rules that, in principle, require workers to return home after five years of working in Japan and not allow them to bring their families to Japan.

If people working under this program advance from Type 1 specified skilled worker status to Type 2 status, which requires higher levels of skills and expertise, they can work indefinitely and bring their families to Japan.

But this status is available only for workers in the construction and shipbuilding industries. There were only eight Type 2 workers as of the end of 2022. The proposal calls for adding industries to those eligible for this status.

It is urgent to improve the program so that it offers more accessible opportunities for foreign workers to become permanent residents.

Japan is hardly alone in struggling with a labor shortage. Without an improved system to allow foreign workers to stay in the country over the long term without worrying about their futures, Japan will soon find it extremely difficult to attract foreign workers.

The government needs to work out a system to accept foreign workers from the long-term standpoint of the nation’s future.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 21