Foreign trainee workers losing their jobs in Japan
Mainichi reports that between October and January, over 1,000 foreigners who had been working in Japan on trainee visas were forced to leave the country after their Japanese employers were badly hit by the economic downturn. This is a particularly terrible thing for trainnee workers who have not worked long enough to pay off the initial debts they incurred obtaining trainee work positions:
“Most of the trainees took out a loan of about 700,000 yen to 1 million yen to come to Japan,” said a representative of Advocacy Network for Foreign Trainees in Tokyo’s Taito Ward. “If they return home before their contract period ends, they will be left in debt. The government should take some countermeasures.”
The central government is now reviewing the trainee program, including the guarantee of the trainees’ status, which is not covered by the current Labor Standards Law. A revision is expected to be made in May.
The government could offer to pay the travel expenses of unemployed trainees leaving Japan, perhaps something like what it is already doing for unemployed Nikkei immigrants. However, since trainees were brought to Japan under agreements that their stay would be temporary, I wouldn’t bet on such an outcome.
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Err, why would people take a loan of 700,000 to 1,000,000 yen to come to a job? It sounds like they have been ripped off by whatever agency in China, etc, is finding them jobs.
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It sounds like there is some scamming going on, and I doubt the Japanese government requires them to make such outrageous payments to get a visa.
On a related note, does anyone know if trainees are required to have a return plane ticket when they enter the country? Do their employers provide for such travel costs?
You don’t actually need a return plane ticket for any status of entry into Japan. For example, I came in from Korea and they asked to see my return ticket and I told them I was going back to Korea via the Fukuoka-Busan ferry (JR Beetle), and that was all they needed to hear.
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That’s pretty bad. There was something similar to this that happened in Singapore, but it was before the first round of real lay-offs started happening. Employers were finding Bangladeshis to bring to Singapore on the promise of work, and then when they got here they were kept in a holding area (yes like animals) for a few months and then sent back with little to no wages paid. Of course, for them to get to Singapore in the first place they had to go through an agency that required a lot of upfront fees.
I can’t find the original article I read, since it was so many months ago, but here’s just an example: http://tinyurl.com/d93m5l
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