Economy Japanese restaurants compete for scarce foreign workers

Starting salaries for restaurant staff are increasing:

Competition for foreign restaurant workers in Japan is intensifying after the government stopped accepting new visa applications under the Specified Skilled Worker programme for the food service sector two months ago. Job advertisements targeting the roughly 50,000 foreign workers already holding such visas have doubled since then, reflecting a growing scramble for staff in an industry already struggling with labour shortages. "We will step up recruitment of specified skilled workers to maintain our store expansion plans," said Isamu Isono, head of human resources at Ings, which operates ramen, pizza and other restaurant chains. The company plans to hire 40 workers under the programme by the end of the fiscal year ending August 2027.

Ings recruits through specialised agencies and has raised its monthly starting salary to ¥280,000. Before the visa cap was reached, it had offered ¥250,000 regardless of experience. The government suspended applications for five-year visas under the programme for restaurant workers on 13 April after projections showed the number of visa holders would reach the sector's cap of 50,000 in May. The freeze applies not only to new arrivals from overseas but also to foreign residents already in Japan who wish to switch to that visa category.

Demand for specified skilled workers in the restaurant industry has not abated despite the suspension. Skylark Restaurants, the company behind the Gusto chain of family restaurants, will keep recruiting workers in the country on the five-year visas. A business operating nationwide bar and restaurant chains began contracting with more recruitment agencies after the visa cutoff was announced, expanding its hiring channels. [...] Restaurant operators rely on foreign workers because they have difficulty securing staff. In addition to requiring long work hours and shift-based schedules, they offer wages lower than the average in other industries. [...] Of the approximately 4 million people in the food service industry, just over 1% hold specified skilled worker status. Still, many of them handle such tasks as shift management and ordering, making them a crucial workforce for the sector.

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