Japan to Cap Foreign Workers at 1.23 M. through FY 2028

Tokyo, Dec. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japanese government bodies including the Immigration Services Agency on Tuesday proposed capping the combined number of foreign workers with specified skilled worker status and under a planned new skill development and employment program at 1,231,900 through the end of fiscal 2028. At a meeting of experts, they also submitted a plan to add three job sectors for such foreign workers–linen supply, distribution and warehousing, and resource recycling. The government aims to adopt the plans at a cabinet meeting in January. Under the proposal, the ceiling on foreign workers with type 1 residency status under the specified skills scheme would be set at 805,700. The status allows stays of up to five years in Japan. The new skill development and employment program, set to be introduced in April 2027 in place of the current technical intern system for foreigners, would accept a maximum of 426,200 people in 17 fields. The caps were calculated by estimating the number of workers deemed necessary in each field and then subtracting the number of workers expected to be secured domestically from the projected necessary number and by taking productivity improvements into account. The limit proposed for specified skilled workers is down slightly from the caps set in March 2024 for many fields. Under the new skill development program, up to about 120,000 foreigners would be accepted in each of the construction and industrial product manufacturing sectors, and up to about 60,000 in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Of the three new fields, the combined cap under the specified skills system and the new program would be at 7,700 for linen supply, 18,300 for distribution and warehousing, and 4,500 for resource recycling. As of the end of June this year, Japan had 333,123 foreign residents with type 1 specified skilled worker status and 449,432 technical interns, according to official data. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]