The government on Tuesday approved guidelines for a refurbished plan to support development of foreign workers into skilled workers, expected to kick off in 2027, in hope of resolving Japan’s chronic labor shortage.
The new initiative replaces the current foreign trainee program, which has often been criticized for bad working conditions and participants being used as cheap labor.
“The labor shortage in our country is getting worse,” said Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a ministerial meeting on Tuesday morning. “As global competition to hire foreign workers becomes tougher, these guidelines are important in offering an attractive working environment for foreign nationals.”
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