Editorial: Ease job restrictions on foreign care workers
August 23 , 2023
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare recently established an expert panel to examine the possibility of expanding the types of work that foreign care workers are permitted to engage in. The panel will make its recommendation by the end of 2023.The latest move is in response to a growing shortage of Japanese who, understanding that the work is arduous and financially under-rewarding, want to serve as care workers in the face of a rising number of senior citizens.
As of fiscal 2019, there were some 2.1 million care workers in this country; by fiscal 2040, when the elderly demographic should hit its peak, a projected 2.8 million care workers will be needed to service them—or a shortfall of 690,000 people. As a result, Japan has opened its doors to care workers from abroad and the services they provide to date has proven invaluable.
The problem has been the ministerial limits placed on the job description of these workers, which has led to escalating demand from service providers to loosen restrictions.
The expert panel was established partly in response to such claims. Among the areas that will be examined are permitting home visitations to assist the elderly in cooking and bathing. Adding to the urgency is the fact that Japanese care workers themselves are also aging.
What is important is to create the proper environment in which these foreign workers are able to provide the necessary care for senior citizens over an extended period of time. That means the service providers need to step up in offering Japanese language and skill acquisition programs for the workers they employ from abroad.
The government, too, must extend and expand its support, including raising salaries paid to such workers.
