Why Immigrant-Shy Japan Is Luring Foreign Workers: QuickTake Q&A

Japan’s aging population is leading to projections of a dire shortage of labor in the world’s third-largest economy. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made it clear that opening the country to permanent immigration by unskilled labor isn’t an option, reflecting an historic fear among the Japanese people that foreigners would cause social unrest and erode national identity. But opportunities are growing for overseas workers in a nation where more than a quarter of the population is 65 or older.

Japan’s population peaked in 2008 and the number of workers is expected to decline to 56 million in 2030 from 64 million in 2014, according to a government-backed think tank. A Manpower survey found 86 percent of Japanese employers reported having difficulty filling vacancies in 2016, more than any other country surveyed. Japan has one of the lowest unemployment rates among developed nations at 3.1 percent, and that’s forecast to drop.