Low-Skilled Migrant Labor Schemes in Japan’s Agriculture: Voices From the Field

IF 1.2 4区 社会学 Q1 AREA STUDIES
Glenda S ROBERTS, Noriko FUJITA
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Despite rapid demographic decline, until recently, low-skilled migrant workers have been welcomed only through ‘side-doors’ such as technical interns (TITP). Yet pressure for change comes from two sides: the moral critique of the ‘side-door’ scheme, and the growing economic pressures of a dwindling labor force. In 2018 Japan put in place a short-term bona-fide labor scheme (Specified Skilled Worker; hereafter, SSW) in fields previously largely inaccessible to foreign labor. In combination with the TITP schemes, these workers are allowed to stay longer. But what do these changes mean, how do the farmer-employers see them, and will the SSW lead to a sustainable farm labor supply going forward? We explore stakeholders’ views of the current schemes and their opinions on how low-skilled labor migration should proceed in agriculture. Businesses are desperate for labor, but not at any cost. Under SSW, employers are being asked to change the ways they envision and treat migrant labor. The tensions between their expectations and the realities on the ground reflect the contradictions that Japan’s migration policies inherit, based in the bureaucratic fiction that only ‘skilled’ labor is necessary. Data for this paper come from qualitative interviews conducted from 2018 to 2022 in Kyoto, Aichi, and Tokyo.
日本农业中的低技能移民劳工计划:来自田间的声音
尽管人口数量迅速下降,但直到最近,低技能的移民工人只通过技术实习生(TITP)等“侧门”受到欢迎。然而,变革的压力来自两个方面:对“侧门”计划的道德批评,以及劳动力减少带来的日益增长的经济压力。2018年,日本实施了一项短期善意劳工计划(特定技术工人;(以下简称SSW)以前外国劳工基本上无法进入的领域。结合TITP计划,这些工人被允许停留更长时间。但是,这些变化意味着什么?农民雇主如何看待这些变化? SSW是否会带来可持续的农业劳动力供应?我们探讨了利益相关者对当前计划的看法,以及他们对农业中低技能劳动力迁移应如何进行的看法。企业迫切需要劳动力,但不会不惜任何代价。根据《社会福利法》,雇主被要求改变他们设想和对待移民劳工的方式。他们的期望与现实之间的紧张关系反映了日本移民政策所继承的矛盾,这种矛盾基于官僚主义的虚构,即只有“熟练”劳动力是必要的。本文的数据来自于2018年至2022年在京都、爱知县和东京进行的定性访谈。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.80
自引率
0.00%
发文量
28
期刊介绍: Social Science Japan Journal is a new forum for original scholarly papers on modern Japan. It publishes papers that cover Japan in a comparative perspective and papers that focus on international issues that affect Japan. All social science disciplines (economics, law, political science, history, sociology, and anthropology) are represented. All papers are refereed. The journal includes a book review section with substantial reviews of books on Japanese society, written in both English and Japanese. The journal occasionally publishes reviews of the current state of social science research on Japanese society in different countries.
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