News Foreign workers in Japan rise to a record 1.82 million

But while the figures continue a string of consecutive new annual highs recorded since 2013, the year-on-year increase was far below the 13.6 percent rise in 2019 on account of the coronavirus's ongoing effects. A labor ministry official noted that growth has dulled since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Of the 1,822,725 foreigners in Japan's workforce, Vietnamese nationals accounted for 25.4 percent, the largest proportion, or 462,384 people. They were followed by Chinese nationals at 21.2 percent and 385,848 people, and Filipinos at 11.3 percent and 206,050 people. Amid a scarcity of labor, a new high of 298,790 workplaces employed foreign workers, an increase of 4.8 percent. Businesses with fewer than 30 workers were the most likely to hire foreign staff, accounting for 61.4 percent of employers. By residency status, holders of specialist and engineer visas were up 21.7 percent to 479,949 people. Working holders of visas such as permanent residents and spouses of Japanese nationals were up 2.6 percent to 595,207 people.

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