No. of foreign trainees at Japanese firms on sharp decline

The number of foreign trainees newly accepted by Japanese companies has been on a sharp decline amid the economic downturn, according to recent data released by a government-affiliated organization.

Preliminary data compiled by the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization show that the number of foreigners for whom domestic companies newly filed applications with the Immigration Bureau for permitting their entry into Japan as trainees or technical interns last October fell 18.8 percent from a year earlier to 4,753.

The figure in November stood at 4,692, down 25.5 percent from a year before. The organization, jointly founded by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and other four ministries, analyzes that Japanese firms are becoming reluctant about accepting new foreign trainees in the face of deterioration of the economy.

The organization said an increasing number of foreign trainees have been seeking advice, saying they may be forced to return to their own countries before their terms expire.

Although many foreign trainees are hired at low wages, the recent data suggest that domestic companies, particularly small ones, are now in bad shape and not even hiring such low-wage workers, officials with the organization said.

By country, the number of new trainees from China fell 27.6 percent in November, while it was down 26.0 percent from Indonesia and 41.0 percent from the Philippines.

The number of foreign visitors for the purpose of becoming trainees had been on the increase since the launch of the foreign trainee system in 1993, topping 100,000 in 2007.

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