Japan should expedite an increase in immigrant labor to engage in fields ranging from welfare to manufacturing, construction and agriculture to offset the shrinking domestic workforce, the nation's largest business lobby said Tuesday.
Japan has essentially not accepted unskilled workers in those areas, but the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) now argues the country should introduce "medium-skilled" workers, the group said in a report.
The transport and fishery industries should also be opened to foreign labor, Keidanren said.