Japan Should Scrap Foreign ‘Intern’ System, Govt Advisers Say
- Program has been criticized over coercion of indebted workers
- Changes proposed as aging Japan faces shortage of workers
29% of Japan’s population is already 65 or older.
Photographer: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images
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Japan should consider abolishing a foreign “technical intern” system that’s often used as a back door for cheap labor from overseas and replace it with a more realistic framework, a panel of government advisers said.
The aging and shrinking country needs a program aimed at securing foreign workers, not just supporting developing nations by providing training, the panel said in the report released Monday. Participants in the program should have more freedom to switch jobs while in Japan and be given additional help to develop language skills, they said.