"Employment Status of Foreign Nationals" Reporting Status by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has released a report on the employment of foreign nationals as of the end of October 2022.

Based on the Law for the Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Policies and Measures, the system requires all employers to confirm the name, status of residence, and period of stay of foreign nationals upon hiring or separation from employment, and to notify the Public Employment Security Office (Hello Work) of the status.

◆Number of foreign workers reached a record high of 1,822,725

The number of foreign workers totaled 1,822,725, an increase of 95,504 over the previous year and a record high since 2007, when notification became mandatory. The year-on-year increase was 5.5%, up 5.3 percentage points from 0.2% the previous year.

◆Nearly 300,000 business establishments employing foreign nationals, a record high.

The number of establishments employing foreign nationals totaled 298,790, an increase of 13,710 over the previous year and a record high since notification became mandatory. However, the year-on-year increase rate was 4.8%, down 1.9 percentage points from 6.7% in the previous year.

◆By nationality, Vietnam accounted for the largest number of visitors at 462,384.

By nationality, Vietnam has the largest number of foreign workers at 462,384, accounting for 25.4% of the total number of foreign workers. This was followed by China with 385,848 (21.2% of the total) and the Philippines with 206,050 (11.3% of the total).

The three main countries with the highest year-on-year increase were Indonesia, with 77,889 visitors, up 47.5% from the previous year, followed by Myanmar, with 47,498 visitors, up 37.7%, and Nepal, with 118,196 visitors, up 20.3%.

◆By status of residence, the number of "Technical Intern Training" was 343,254, down 8,534 from the previous year.

By status of residence, "Professional/Technical field of residence" accounted for 479,949, up 85,440 (21.7%) from the previous year. The number of "Specially Designated Activities" increased by 7,435 (11.3%) to 73,363. "Permanent Resident etc." totaled 595,207, an increase of 14,879 (2.6%) from the previous year.

On the other hand, "Technical Training" decreased by 8,534 (2.4%) to 343,254 from the previous year. Among "activities other than those permitted under the status of residence," "Studying Abroad" totaled 258,636, a decrease of 8,958 (3.3%) from the previous year.

Employment Status of Persons with Disabilities in 2022 and Revision of the Calculation Method of the Actual Employment Rate

◆Number of persons with disabilities employed and actual employment rate are the highest ever

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has compiled and published the results of "Employment of Persons with Disabilities" as of June 1, 2022, for private companies and public organizations. The number of persons with disabilities employed by private enterprises (43.5 or more employees as mandated by the Law for Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities: statutory employment rate of 2.3%) reached a record high of 613,958.0 (up 2.7% from the previous year, up 16,172.0 from the previous year). The percentage of companies that have achieved the legally mandated employment rate is 48.3% (up 1.3% from the previous year). Of the 55,684 companies that have not achieved the legally mandated employment rate, 32,342 companies employ no persons with disabilities (zero employees), accounting for 58.1% of all companies that have not achieved the statutory employment rate.

◆Employment of people with mental disabilities increased

Looking at the number of employees by disability type, those with physical disabilities were 357,767.5 (down 0.4% from the previous year), those with intellectual disabilities were 146,426.5 (up 4.1%), and those with mental disabilities were 109,764.5 (up 11.9%), with a particularly large growth rate among the mentally disabled.

One reason for this is that the employment of people with mental disabilities has been mandatory since April 2008, and the number of people employed is still on the rise. However, the mentally challenged have more difficulty working longer hours and with more stability than those with physical or intellectual disabilities, and their workplace retention rate is lower than those with physical or intellectual disabilities.

◆Revision of the method for calculating the actual employment rate of Part-Time Workers

In order to expand employment opportunities for the mentally disabled who can work for a short time (20 to 30 hours per week), the government established a special measure to count 0.5 points per person as 1 point if certain requirements are met (the measure was supposed to last until the end of FY2022, but is scheduled to be extended through a revision of the ministerial ordinance). In addition, under the revised Law for Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities, the employment rate for persons with mental disabilities, persons with severe physical disabilities, and persons with severe intellectual disabilities who work 10 to 20 hours per week will be counted at 0.5 points per person (to be implemented by April 2024).

* The number of persons with disabilities that your company should employ is calculated by the following formula.

Original calculation method

Number of persons with disabilities legally employed by the company (number of persons with disabilities required to be employed) = (number of full-time workers + number of part-time workers x 0.5) x employment rate of persons with disabilities (2.3%)