Foreign Workers in Japan Rise to Record 1.82 M. in 2022

Tokyo, Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)--The number of foreign workers in Japan at the end of October 2022 rose 5.5 pct from a year before to 1,822,725, hitting a record high for the 10th straight year, the labor ministry said Friday.

The pace of growth accelerated from 0.2 pct for 2021 due to the easing of the government's COVID-19 border controls.

By nationality, Vietnamese made up the largest group of foreign workers, at 462,384, followed by Chinese, at 385,848, Filipinos, at 206,050, and Indonesians, at 77,889. Vietnamese workers grew by 2.0 pct and Indonesian workers by a whopping 47.5 pct. Chinese workers fell 2.8 pct.

Of the total, the number of workers with visas for specialized and technical fields jumped 21.7 pct. Those with student visas dropped 3.3 pct, and workers with technical intern trainee visas slid 2.4 pct.

By industry, foreign workers in the manufacturing sector, who account for a quarter of the total, increased 4.2 pct, up for the first time in three years.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]