Japan to actively recruit nursing care staff from Southeast Asia

There are currently about 2.15 million nursing care workers, but there will be an estimated shortage of about 250,000 workers in fiscal 2026 and about 570,000 in fiscal 2040. The Straits Times/Asia News Network

TOKYO — Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will actively promote the recruitment of nursing care staff from Southeast Asia, from fiscal year 2025, to cope with the serious labour shortage in the industry.

The ministry will shoulder part of the costs that Japanese nursing care operators incur when recruiting staff in the region, and will establish a nursing care education program in Indonesia.

With more elderly people expected to need care amid Japan’s increasingly aging society, the ministry deemed it necessary to make strategic efforts to bring in human resources from outside Japan.

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About one in five people in Japan will be aged 75 or over in 2025. There are currently about 2.15 million nursing care workers, but there will be an estimated shortage of about 250,000 workers in fiscal 2026 and about 570,000 in fiscal 2040.

According to the Immigration Services Agency, 28,400 foreign nationals had entered Japan with specified skilled worker visa status as at the end of 2023 to work in the nursing care industry. That figure is just over 50 per cent of the government’s target.

Behind the shortage is a global war for talent in the welfare industry as the population ages, particularly in developed countries.

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The ministry will subsidize travel expenses for companies that operate special nursing homes for the elderly, or tokuyo, and vocational schools to train care workers. Money will also be spent to organize briefings at Japanese language schools and “dispatch agencies” in Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Myanmar.

Local young people training to be caregivers would receive explanations about the benefits of working in Japan and the terms of employment on offer. Financial support will also be offered for interviews and other recruitment activities.

A total of 1 million yen (S$8,800) will be provided from the national and prefectural governments per company. The ministry expects up to 100 businesses to participate in fiscal year 2025 and has included relevant funding in the supplementary budget for the year.

A survey conducted in fiscal 2023 by Tokyo-based Care Work Foundation found that 60 per cent of care facilities, including tokuyo, reported staff shortage. Only 10 per cent accepted foreign workers.

“We want to encourage people to take the first step towards hiring foreign staff,” said a spokesperson from the ministry’s office of policy planning for recruitment in welfare.

In Indonesia, which is keen to send workers overseas, a three-year program called Kaigo will be established in fiscal year 2025 to train people in nursing care techniques. Three experts in Japan’s care insurance system and elderly care will be dispatched from the ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Kaigo is aimed at training instructors and young people studying at local public nursing schools. Countries like Germany are already said to be making moves to recruit people in Indonesia.

Caregivers from overseas who pass a qualification exam for certified care workers can continue to work in Japan.

“The government should support the cost of acquiring qualifications and strive to create workplaces that are easy to function in,” said Professor Noriko Tsukada, who studies social gerontology at Nihon University.

“Conditions must be improved, such as by increasing wages, and the industry made attractive to foreigners as well.”