Japan, a “senior powerhouse” with 30% of the elderly aged 65 or older, will provide subsidies to companies that want to hire related talents in Southeast Asia starting next year to expand their nursing care workforce, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 16th.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to support the cost of hiring Southeast Asian workers for corporations that operate special nursing homes and specialized schools that train nursing care workers equivalent to Korean nursing care workers.
These institutions will visit Japanese language schools and manpower dispatch organizations in Vietnam and Myanmar, hold briefing sessions for young people, and use subsidies to engage in recruitment activities such as interviews.
Subsidies paid to individual companies are 1 million yen, and the Japanese government expects up to 100 companies to receive subsidies next year.
In addition, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to operate a nursing care education program in Indonesia for three years starting next year.
The government is pushing for a plan to send three experts to Indonesia with the Japan International Cooperation Organization (JICA).
According to Yomiuri, the background of the Japanese government’s plan to implement this policy is that the aging population in developed countries could lead to a scramble for nursing care personnel in the future.
As of the end of last year, about 28,400 foreigners were eligible to stay in Japan to work related to ‘caregiving’, which is equivalent to nursing care.
This is slightly more than 50% of the number of people the Japanese government has set as its target.
“The number of care workers was 2.15 million in 2022, but it is estimated that by 2040, there will be about 570,000 short,” Yomiuri said.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
