Japan Dials Back Foreign-Worker Plan Despite Labor Shortage
- Some critics highlight immigration fears, others rights abuses
- The government wants to launch the blue-collar system in April
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Facing a barrage of criticism from across the political spectrum, the Abe government has settled on a guest-worker plan that will deliver fewer than a quarter of the 1.5 million people Japan needs to plug a labor shortage over the next five years.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to enact legislation by the end of December allowing up to 345,150 foreigners into the country over the first five years of the program to work in areas like construction and farming. The first workers could arrive in April.