Japan’s rapidly aging society and slowing birth rate has prompted its government to bring in a wave of foreign domestic helpers in the coming months to boost its female labor force.
Pasona Group, a Japan-based housekeeping agency, aims to accept 50 workers who have completed training by a local agency in the Philippines by January. It also plans to welcome the same number of domestic helpers every three months, and receive 1,000 foreign domestic housekeepers in three years.
Another housekeeping services provider, Bears Company, also plans to accept about 10 workers from countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam as it addresses shortage of local Japanese workers taking the jobs offered.
Special deregulated zones in Osaka and Kanagawa prefectures in early September have adopted guidelines for housekeeping services employing foreign nationals. Among the guidelines set up was to require employers to hire foreign domestic workers in full-time basis and pay them salaries equal or greater than their Japanese counterparts, while limiting the period of employment to a maximum of three years.
It is projected that Japan’s working population is expected to drop sharply in the coming decades, with the percentage of those aged 65 and above — already making up a quarter of the national population in 2014 — expected to reach 40 per cent in 2060, according to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research surveys.
And even though the number of double income households in Japan is rising, roughly 60 per cent of women leave the workforce after giving birth to their first child, according to the ministry.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan has been calling for the Japanese government to relax immigration policies to allow foreign workers to enter the domestic-work market.
Japan has already made similar approach in the hiring of foreign nurses and caregivers after establishing partnership agreements with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. However, language barrier remains a stumbling block in the success of the program. The passing rate of foreigners taking the exams is significantly lower than their Japanese counterparts.