Government panel proposes doubling the number of highly skilled foreign workers
A top economic panel has recommended that Japan allow in more highly skilled foreign workers:
After the proposal was made Friday, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced that he would set up a task force to consider ways to aggressively support foreigners efforts to find work and improve their living conditions in Japan.
As of 2006, about 158,000 people entered Japan with resident status who had expertise in such fields as education, art, journalism, legal and accounting services, corporate management, and technology.
The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, which advises Fukuda, said the government should press for measures to increase that to 300,000 by the end of 2015.
The proposal is aimed at keeping the world’s second-biggest economy on track at a time when the population is quickly graying, the private-sector members of the council said.
