KATHMANDU, Nov 14: The Japanese government expects to take in some 345,000 foreign workers through fiscal 2023 to make up for the country's labor shortage, media reports said on Wednesday.
The government presented the figure in the Diet on Wednesday after the opposition asked how many new foreign workers to expect if revised immigration legislation takes effect next April, the NHK World of Japan said in its recent report.
The government said Japan needs some 586,000 more workers. Around 33,000 to 48,000 foreigners are expected to enter the country to work in the fiscal year starting in April 2019, according to the NHK.
7,300 of them are to work in agriculture, 7,000 as building cleaners and 6,800 in food and beverage production. The worker shortage is likely to grow to 1.45 million in the fiscal year starting April 2023.
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"Around 263,000 to 345,000 foreign workers are expected to come to Japan during that time, with 60,000 employed in nursing care, 53,000 in restaurants and 40,000 in construction," the report further said.
