How Many Japanese Companies Actually Hire Foreign People?

The employment of foreign nationals has seen rapid increases recently. With this fact has come plenty of praise, but this time we’ll take a look into the actual numbers of those increases.

◆How many companies employ foreigner persons?

There are 194,595 locations employing foreign workers. That’s a record high increase of 21,797 (12.6%) compared to the previous year.

• Tokyo - 54,020 locations （27.8% overall）

• Aichi - 15,625 locations （8% overall）

• Osaka - 12,926 locations （6.6% overall）

• Kanagawa - 12,602 locations （6.5% overall）

• Saitama - 9,103 locations （4.7% overall）

◆The countries that have the biggest numbers

Foreign workers are at a record high of roughly 1.28 million people.

• China - 372,263 people （29.1% overall）

• Vietnam - 240,259 people（18.8% overall）

• The Philippines - 146,798 people（11.5% overall）

• Brazil - 117,299 people（9.2% overall）

• Nepal - 69,111 people（5.4% overall）

◆Status of residence information

・Family-related （permanent residents or those with Japanese spouses） - 459,132 people (35.9% overall)

・Permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted (students) - 259,604 people （20.3% overall）

・Engineer/Specialist - 238,412 people（18.6% overall）

・Technical intern training - 257,788 people（20.2% overall）

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare: “Foreign employment status” notification status summary (as of the end of October 2017)

The government is upping its involvement to further increase the number of foreign workers.

The Nikkei: In hopes of expanding acceptance of foreign workers, a ministerial meeting will be held by the end of this month

These efforts are in no doubt tied to Japan’s aging population, low birth rate, and lack of workers leading to corporate bankruptcies, among other issues.

But instead of looking at hiring foreign nationals only to combat these issues, look to hire them for the various benefits they bring.

At our company, Active Gaming Media Inc., about 65% of the 130 employees are foreign nationals, coming together from 35 countries.

Overseas, most companies hire foreign nationals as a matter of fact, and it feels like this is becoming the case in Japan too. Instead of hiring foreign workers only in times of worker shortages, try to think about the potential to further increase company profits by employing foreign nationals in general.

Feel free to open an account in Izanau if you want to look for jobs in Japan!