Reading notes from Controlling Immigration, trainees

Reading notes for Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, published 1994 by Stanford University Press. (Note, there is a more recent edition of the book.) These notes cover pages 397 to 400 from Chapter 11, which covers Japan and is written by the editor of the book.

1. Quote: "Potentially more important in the future, especially as the pools of Latin American Nikkeijin are exhausted, is another of Japan's currently operating backdoor immigration policies, the "company trainee" programs. In 1991, 43,649 foreigners were admitted to Japan as trainees of private companies; about the same number were admitted in 1992, mostly from mainland China, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia."

2. Quote: "The Japanese government officially justifies the company trainee programs as a form of development assistance to poorer countries -- a vehicle for skill and technology transfer. However, independent observers consider this to be diplomatic window dressing, since most of the skills acquired by company trainees are not directly transferable to jobs in their home countries unless the Japanese firms that provide the training have established subsidiaries or joint-venture plants there."

3. It is estimated that once the Japanese economy recovers the program maybe increased to the extent that between 200,000 to 300,000 foreigners will be entering in Japan.

4. At the time of the chapter's writing, over 500 different recruitment networks were being established between the Japanese government with the cooperation of Chinese local government councils. Similar agreements were being negotiated with Indonesia.

5. Even as the economy was in a downturn the program was expanded. Why? The author suggests the following: "The most plausible explanation is that the officials responsible for these programs, like the private employers who have come to rely upon foreign workers, are taking the long view of Japan's labor supply situation. They do not see the domestically unmet demand for unskilled labor as being cyclical; rather, they consider it a structural feature of the Japanese economy in the last decade of the twentieth century and beyond. While the recent economic downturn may have taken some pressure off labor-short small and medium-sized businesses, these same firms remain deeply concerned about future supplies of young workers."

6. Quote: "The company trainee approach to solving the country's long-term labor shortage has won strong support from Japan's business organizations, several of which have developed and presented to the government their own designs for foreign-worker training programs (see, for example, Japan Foodservice Association 1990; Tokyo Chamber of Commerce 1989)."

7. The author notes that the program was expanded in 1993. Under a new part of the program, known as the Practical Trainee program, foreigners could remain in Japan and work for up to a year and a half after receiving their training (supposedly on the job training.)

8. The Practical Trainee program "has intensified criticism of the company trainee programs, primarily by intellectuals, on the grounds that most jobs held by foreign trainees are exactly those that Japanese citizens will not do; that many employers provide very little actual training; and that most companies are simply using the trainees as a source of cheap, unskilled labor."

9. foreign tranees during the first year are not treated as regular employees. This means they are not covered by Japanese labor law. They don't recieve regular wages, health insurance, workmen's compensation and other fringe benefits.

10. Quote: "Foreign trainees are, in fact, somewhat cheaper to the firm than the average Japanese employee. Employers pay no recruitment fees and have no long-term obligations to their foreign trainees. Only if the employer opts to retain a trainee for a second year and the foreign trainee passes a certifying examination given by the Ministry of Labor does he become an officially recognized employee with standard benefits and protections."

11. Those who criticize the trainee system point out that most utilizing it are small and medium sized businesses who simply cannot offer the appropriate training, but are, in fact, in need of unskilled workers.

12. There is no enforcement mechanism in place to make sure the workers return home after their training. While some home countries, such as China, are make strong efforts to recover their workers, other countries are not.

13. Quote: "A greatly expanded company trainee system could be the functional equivalent of a quota system for immigration, but it would probably be more effective in maintaining the strict-rotation principle than a U.S., Canadian, or Spanish-style quota system.  The company trainee approach offers other advantages. It is attractive to employers (any Japanese company can participate if it agrees to abide by the government's rules), is more acceptable to the Japanese public than a formal quota system, and avoids the diplomatic sensitivities of allocating visas among the sending countries that are Japan's close neighbors. Some academic experts believe that the political difficulties raised by a formal quota system would paralyze the government bureaucracy. Therefore, expanding the company trainee program is both a more realistic and a preferred option."

[Comment: To the extent that the program is used a source for unskilled labor, it is easier to send the workers back home once they are no longer needed.]