In a bid to address the nation's acute labor shortages, the government aims to draw up a plan by summer to reform the immigration system in order to allow in more professional and skilled foreign workers, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Council of Economic Fiscal Policy on Tuesday.
"The prerequisite is that there will be a limit to the duration of stay and family members will basically not be allowed to accompany the workers. Under these conditions, we'd like to conduct (feasibility) studies to show the outline of a new policy by summer," Abe told the 11-member panel, which includes key Cabinet ministers and the head of Keidanren, Japan's most powerful business lobby group.
Asked for more details during a news conference later in the day, economic and fiscal policy minister Toshimitsu Motegi pointed out several industrial sectors that will be scrutinized and targeted by the government for possible inclusion in the initiative. These included nursing services as well as construction, transportation, retail and agricultural sectors, which are all facing acute labor shortages.