While assistant language teachers play a critical role in English language education throughout Japan, many are struggling to make a living wage.

Jesse Ali, 43, an ALT originally from California, has spent 15 years teaching English at elementary, junior and senior high schools in Kanagawa Prefecture through a leading ALT staffing agency.

However, his low pay has left him barely afford to buy a suit for work or eat more than once a day.

On June 17, Ali was standing in front of the company in Tokyo with a microphone in his hand.

“I can’t afford my living expenses and my debt is increasing every month,” he said.

He continued, “Even when my partner told me about wanting to marry me, all I could say was ‘I’m sorry’ because I was worried about our living situation. I don’t even have enough for train fare to go on a date.”

Ali first became interested in Japan during high school, when he became acquainted with a Japanese exchange student.

While in college in the United States, Ali took an opportunity to study abroad at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo for two years starting in 2001.

After graduating from a university in the United States, he returned to Japan.

As an ALT, Ali has a busy schedule. At one elementary school, he teaches five to six classes a day in which students practice English conversations, sing songs in English and learn other skills.

Because each board of education he is dispatched to has different guidelines, Ali needs to frequently change the content of his lessons.

He also creates original characters for illustrations and devises other ways to help his students gain a better understanding of English.

“I want them to feel the joy of communication and expand international interest,” Ali said.

JOINING A LABOR UNION

However, Ali said he is not paid enough for his work.

He works five days a week for an after-tax monthly salary of less than 200,000 yen ($1,260), although that amount can increase or decrease depending on the number of classes he teaches.

His income drops even further in March and April because of spring break, while he receives no bonuses.

Because he is required to wear a suit for his classes, he bought a cheap one from a flea market app.

His school lunch is often the only meal he eats all day.

And when he is invited to attend welcome and farewell events with his coworkers, he must decline since he simply cannot afford to go.

“It’s difficult to say that I don’t have any money and no one believes me even if I do,” Ali said. “I’m all alone in the faculty room.”

Two years ago, he was invited by other ALTs in the same circumstance to join the Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union, a labor union in the capital that any worker can participate in.

He joined the union. However, after the ALTS started collective bargaining with the staffing agency, they were notified that their salaries would be cut, Ali said.

The ALTs are negotiating with the company to retract that notification and demand pay hikes.

COST-REDUCTION PRESSURE

According to a survey conducted by the education ministry in fiscal 2023, there are 18,127 ALTs working in public elementary, junior and senior high schools across Japan.

These ALTs are mainly grouped into three employment statuses.

Ali and others dispatched from private companies and other institutions accounted for 34 percent, or 6,190.

Those in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET), which is organized by the Japanese government, made up 28 percent, or 5,081.

Another 20 percent, or 3,619, were hired directly by local governments.

The percentage of ALTs dispatched by private firms had hovered between 10 and 19 percent until fiscal 2018, but in fiscal 2021 they surpassed JET teachers to form the largest demographic.

This shift toward hiring ALTs from private companies has been fueled by local governments’ measures to reduce costs.

A nationwide survey conducted between 2022 and 2023 by the General Union received about 600 valid responses from ALTs working at public schools, and showed that the average annual income for those dispatched by private companies stood at 2.47 million yen.

The figure for ALTs directly hired by local governments was 3.48 million yen.

The figure for JET teachers was 3.75 million yen, meaning that those working through dispatch companies only earned about two-thirds of JET teachers’ salaries.

Toshiaki Asari, chair of the labor union based in Osaka, pointed out that an increasing number of local governments are facing fiscal difficulties, and it costs less for them to employ dispatch workers because private firms handle the costs of recruitment, managing employees and so on.

When municipalities select staffing agencies through bidding or other methods, companies with cheaper rates usually win out.

“As a result, it takes a toll on the wages of ALTs,” he said.

DECREASING ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

According to the “English Proficiency Index” released in 2023 by EF Education First, which operates language schools around the world, Japan ranked 87th out of 113 countries and regions whose native language is not English.

It has been pointed out that insufficient use of ALTs has contributed to poor English skills among Japanese students.

An education ministry survey conducted in fiscal 2023 also showed that 73 percent of elementary schools had ALTs participate in at least half of the English lessons, while only 24 percent of junior high schools and 11 percent of senior high schools did so. 

“Our current working conditions are not rewarding,” Ali said. “No one will want to work for a long time and teach good classes.”

Meanwhile, a representative of the staffing agency told The Asahi Shimbun that it can’t disclose information regarding individual ALTs, before adding, “We pay appropriate wages in compliance with the law.”

A Kanagawa prefectural official said, “We are in no position to answer because we are in a contract with the staffing agency.”

An official from the education ministry’s Foreign Language Education Promotion Office said, “Local governments must make appropriate decisions based on their authorities and responsibilities.”

FACT-FINDING SURVEY REQUIRED

Tomoko Komagawa, a professor at Hokkaido University specializing in labor sociology, argues that a structure in which neither the education ministry nor the municipalities nor the staffing agencies take responsibility prevents ALTs from living stable lives.

The situation is at the intersection of several critical labor issues in Japan concerning “foreign workers,” “non-regular workers” and “working poor produced by government bodies,” she continued.

“It can also be described as an educational issue because ALTs are educators who work for Japan’s future,” the professor said, adding, “The central government must conduct a fact-finding survey and present guidelines for the working conditions that they deserve.”