The number of foreign employees in Japan reached a record 2.3 million as of the end of last October, maintaining a growth rate of 12.4 percent, the same as the previous year, government data showed Friday, as the nation continues to attract labor despite the weak yen, according to Kyodo news.
The foreign worker population has logged consecutive annual highs since 2013, with holders of the Specified Skilled Worker visa, which allows people from overseas to work in labor-strapped industries such as nursing care and construction, rising 49.4 percent in the latest reporting year to 206,995, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The rise to 2,302,587 came as the number of workplaces employing foreign nationals also hit a record 342,087, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier. Small businesses with fewer than 30 employees made up 62.4 percent of the total.
Despite concerns that the yen's depreciation has made Japan a less attractive work destination, a labor ministry official said, "Many people, particularly those from Southeast Asia, still choose Japan."
By nationality, Vietnamese workers made up the largest group at 570,708, or 24.8 percent of the total, followed by Chinese at 408,805, or 17.8 percent, and Filipinos at 245,565, or 10.7 percent.
Notably, the number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 36 million in 2024 in a new all-time high, boosted by a weak yen and the resumption of flight routes to Japan following the COVID-19 pandemic, while their spending surpassed 8 trillion yen ($50.8 billion) for the first time on record, government data showed.
