India to send ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ to work in Japan

New Delhi, Jan 7: In a major development, Indian workers would be granted a new status of residence ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ by the government of Japan, the Union Cabinet decided it in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

Under the memorandum, a joint working group will be set up to follow up on the implementation. The memorandum will “enhance people-to-people contacts, foster mobility of workers and skilled professionals from India to Japan," the cabinet statement added. It would enhance people-to-people contacts, foster mobility of workers and skilled professionals from India to Japan.

  

 

The cabinet approved the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between India and Japan on "a Basic Framework for Partnership for Proper Operation of the System Pertaining to 'Specified Skilled Worker'".

 

"It would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Japan on sending and accepting skilled Indian workers, who have qualified the required skill and Japanese language test, to work in fourteen specified sectors in Japan. These Indian workers would be granted a new status of residence of "Specified Skilled Worker" by the Government of Japan," the statement read.

 

According to a 2019 post by the World Economic Forum (WEF), more than 27% of the population in Japan is over 65 years of age, with a birth rate of 1.43 in 2017. It said the country will face a shortage of 6.44 million people in the labor force by 2030. Tokyo alone will be short 1.33 million workers. The legal movement of skilled workers will not only take care of such shortages but also boost India’s remittance economy.

 

India followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt continued to be among the top five countries in 2020 for foreign remittances, the World Bank said. It, however, estimated India’s remittance receipt at $76 billion, a drop of 9% due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The government listed the 14 sectors as nursing care; building cleaning; material processing; industrial machinery manufacturing; electric and electronic information related industry; construction; shipbuilding and ship-related industry; automobile maintenance; aviation; lodging; agriculture; fisheries; food and beverages manufacturing; and foodservice industry.