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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