On November 30, 2023, a government panel of experts submitted a final report to the Minister of Justice stating that the current (technical intern) system would be abolished, citing a series of disappearances of technical intern trainees who were placed in harsh work environments and allegations of human rights violations.
<Purpose and Reality>
The purpose of technical intern training is “international contribution,” and the original purpose is for foreigners who have acquired professional skills (knowledge and experience) in Japan to contribute to the development of their countries after returning to their home countries. Despite its purpose, the reality is that it is a system aimed at resolving Japan’s labor shortage.
The report states “The current (technical intern training) system will be progressively dissolved and a new system will be created for the purpose of securing and developing human resources”.
It seems that the main focus is on human rights considerations to ease transfer restrictions, which is the reason why the system has become infamous as so called “modern-day slavery”. (Under the current system, in principle, foreign nationals cannot change his/her place of employment for three years, but this will be changed to one year under certain conditions.)
<Challenges in the new system>
Human rights considerations are a matter of course, but the issue associated with this is the drain of human resources from rural areas. Companies and organizations that are accepting foreign human resources through both the technical intern training and specified skills workers systems are especially noticeable in rural areas suffering from labor shortages.
They say it will be unsustainable to lose resources right after when they have spent a lot of time and money to hire people.
By the way, the status of residence “Specified Skilled Worker” basically allows freedom of transfer, and similar issues are often pointed out.
Although there are some successful cases of efforts to stem the flow of human resources, I think it is necessary to resolve this issue as a system. With high wages and the stimulation of the city, it’s no surprise that young people want to work in the city.
For example, would it be possible to consider providing subsidies to cover the wage gap between rural and urban areas?