Retaining talent in rural areas

Retaining foreign talent in rural Japan is becoming a major challenge ahead of a new foreign worker training system being implemented in 2027.

A recent survey by Global Power, which operates the job-search and recruitment website NINJA for highly skilled foreign workers and students, found that less than 50% of foreign workers and students in rural Japan want to stay in their current area when looking for work. The analysis, based on data from 42,000 registered users as of May 2024, focusing on their current address and desired work location, showed Tokyo leading with 51.7% of users wanting to stay in the city. Fukuoka (51.5%), Aichi (49.6%) and Osaka (48.8%) also had high rates. “The reality is that foreign talent is attracted to big cities with higher salaries and more job opportunities,” said Yuji Shinohara, vice president of Global Power.

Under current regulations, people with certain visa categories such as engineers or humanities /international services professionals (about 370,000 people), or highly skilled workers (140,000 people) are allowed to change jobs. However, foreigners participating in the government’s technical intern training program (about 410,000 people) are not allowed to change workplaces within 3 years because they have to work in the same place to acquire certain job skills. That regulation has helped many local companies hire these interns, as they are less likely to quit.

Japan will replace its technical intern training program with a “training and employment” system as early as 2027, allowing trainees to change jobs after working for one to two years. The new regulations make it easier for foreigners to participate in the technical intern training program, but pose a new problem of retaining foreign talent in rural areas of Japan.

To prevent the migration of foreign workers to big cities, local governments and companies are introducing measures such as improving wages, working conditions and providing opportunities to learn Japanese to support foreign workers in their career development. This will make rural Japan more attractive to foreign talent.

VIET LE

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/giu-chan-nhan-tai-o-nong-thon-post751607.html