Vietnamese make up largest percentage of Japan’s foreign workforce

By October 2023, Japan had over 2,048,600 foreign workers in the country, an increase of around 226,000 workers compared to the same period in 2022.

Among them, almost 518,350 workers were Vietnamese, accounting for 25% of the foreign workforce, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced Friday, the Japan Times reported.

They are followed by around 397,900 Chinese workers, accounting for 19.4%, and nearly 226,850 Filipino workers, accounting for 11%.

This is the first time that the number of foreign workers in Japan exceeds two million. The number of foreign workers in the country has been rising consistently since 2013 as Japan grapples with a worker shortage.

Vietnam sent around 155,000 people to work abroad last year, an 8.5% increase from 2022. Around 650,000 Vietnamese workers are currently working in 40 countries and territories.

Japan hosted the most Vietnamese workers (80,000), followed by Taiwan (58,600) and South Korea (11,600), according to the labor ministry.