Keidanren Demands Clear Eligibility Criteria under New Resident Status Program

October 17, 2018

Tokyo- The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, urged the government on Tuesday to clarify the criteria for selecting industries eligible for the planned new resident status program.

In its recommendations on the state initiative to expand the number of overseas workers in the country, Keidanren said the government "should show Japanese citizens and companies satisfactory and specific criteria" for the selection of industrial sectors that will be allowed to employ foreign workers more easily than now with the new resident status.

Keidanren, the largest business lobby in the country, apparently hopes to prevent the number of low-cost foreign workers from surging amid serious workforce shortages particularly in industries relying on simple labor.

Before singling out eligible industries, the government should make clear required levels of expertise and skills after considering the possibility of information technologies and artificial intelligence substituting manpower, the group said while refraining from naming specific sectors.

Keidanren also called on the government to endeavor to create a society where foreigners and Japanese people can coexist, saying that open living and work environments should be developed.

Furthermore, it encouraged local governments to enhance Japanese language education for foreign workers and make administrative services available in multiple languages, while demanding the central government fund programs to improve the skills of teachers at public schools so they can better provide education to children of foreign workers coming to the country.

Meanwhile, Yoshimitsu Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, or Keizai Doyukai, suggested at a news conference the same day that the government accept foreign workers for time-limited simple labor in a planned manner to make up for manpower shortages. Jiji Press