Indonesians, Vietnamese form larger share of Japan's foreign workers

Weak yen and relatively low wages sap appeal for Chinese and Western workers

20240314N Foreign worker

Many Indonesian workers have found jobs in Japan's short-handed agricultural sector. (Photo obtained by Nikkei)

AKINOBU MASUBUCHI, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japan's foreign workforce has seen its landscape change because of shifts in wages and exchange rates, with Vietnamese workers overtaking Chinese workers as the largest group last year while workers from Indonesia nearly tripled from 2018.

The total number of foreign workers in Japan had increased 40.3% in five years to 2.05 million as of October 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

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