Almost half those polled in a recent survey are against having illegal foreign workers in the country and think they should be forcibly deported, the Cabinet Office said Saturday.

According to the survey conducted in November, 49.2 percent of respondents said they do not condone the presence of illegal foreign workers, up 17 points from a similar survey conducted in 1990, while 49.6 percent said such workers should be repatriated, an increase of 16 points over the 1990 survey.

The survey covered 3,000 people aged 20 or older, of whom 69.0 percent responded.

Of those against illegal foreign workers, 56.1 percent cited violations of the law and 52.4 percent cited deterioration in security and morals as reasons for their opinions.

Some analysts say this hardline attitude toward illegal workers reflects public concern over lost job opportunities given the country's severe employment situation.

The government last month said Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was 4.8 percent, keeping the 2000 monthly average jobless rate at the annual record high of 4.7 percent logged in 1999.

However, the survey did find that 64.6 percent of respondents would not mind if foreign workers assumed difficult, dirty or dangerous jobs that most Japanese people do not want to do.

Of those, 33.9 percent said that foreign workers should be able to aggressively assume such unpopular jobs, while 30.7 percent responded that it is inevitable that foreign workers will take such jobs.

Japan allows foreigners with special skills, such as language teachers and entertainers, to work in Japan but prohibits unskilled workers from holding down jobs in the country.

Of survey respondents, 21.2 percent supported the government's current stance on foreign workers, up 7.1 points from the previous survey.

Of those, 62.9 percent cited fears of an increased crime rate, up 8.9 points, and 59.0 percent said they were concerned about increasing unemployment among Japanese.