The number of foreign workers working in Japan was over 2.04 million as of October last year, exceeding 2 million for the first time and the highest number ever, according to a summary by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.


The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare analyzes that ``The growth rate of foreign workers has returned to a level close to pre-coronavirus levels due to the recovery in economic activity from the coronavirus pandemic and domestic labor shortages.''

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare compiles the employment status of foreign workers reported by companies every year, and announced the results as of the end of October last year on the 26th.



According to this report, there were 2,048,675 foreign workers, an increase of 12.4% or more than 220,000 compared to the previous year, marking the 11th consecutive year since 2013 that the number of foreign workers has increased to a record high.



By nationality,


▽Vietnamese had the largest number of people with 518,364 people, accounting for 25.3% of the total,


followed by China with 397,918 people


, and ▽Philippines with 226,846 people.



On the other hand, the increase rates from the previous year were as follows


: Indonesia with 56%


, Myanmar with 49.9%


, and Nepal with 23.2%.



By status of residence


, the largest number of people were people of Japanese descent and spouses of Japanese people, at 615,934 people


, followed by people with specialized knowledge and skills such as engineers and researchers at 595,904 people,


and technical interns. The number is 412,501 people.



By industry,


manufacturing industry had the largest number of people at 552,399


, followed by service industry with 320,755 people


, and wholesale and retail industry with 263,555 people.



The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said, ``The increase rate is high in industries that are said to have a labor shortage, such as construction and medical care.The increase rate of foreign workers is at a level close to pre-coronavirus levels due to the recovery of economic activity from the coronavirus pandemic and the domestic labor shortage. It has come back up to.''