Knowledge Forum: “Making Japan the Chosen Country: International Labor Migration Dynamics in Indonesia”

In Japan, labor shortages are becoming more serious due to the declining birthrate and aging population, as well as a shrinking workforce, and efforts to accept migrant workers from abroad are expanding. The number of migrant workers has increased significantly over the past decade from 650,000 in 2011 to 1,724,000 in 2020—a 2.7-fold increase—and their share of the workforce has increased from 1.0% to 2.6%. A study by the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development (JICA Ogata Research Institute) predicts a demand of 3.56 million workers in 2030 and 6.32 million workers in 2040. While the number of international migrant workers is on the rise, with migrant workers from Asian countries amounting to approximately six million every year, Japan has a lot to do to be selected as a destination country. This includes addressing problems such as human rights violations of technical interns, and the immobilization of precarious workers including fake foreign students establishing a safe and secure work environment for foreign workers without mismatches or high fees, and drawing up future-oriented initiatives to make Japan more attractive in comparison to other receiving countries. In addition, bilateral collaboration will be key to establishing these safe and attractive migration routes, taking into account the mechanisms for selecting international migration routes not only in the country receiving workers, Japan, but also in the countries sending them.

This Knowledge Forum will take a look at the country of Indonesia as a case study, which has set a proactive numerical target of sending 70,000 migrant workers to Japan under the Specified Skilled Worker program over the next five years. In addition to panel data pertaining to international migrant workers from Indonesia from 2017 to 2022, the Forum will focus on the current status of international migration mechanisms and their issues as captured by interviews with governments, training and sending organizations, recruiters and prospective foreign workers, and give reports on research findings about Japan's position among the main receiving countries and safe and attractive migration routes. At the panel discussion, based on those research findings, participants will also exchange views on the initiatives needed to overcome Japan's current position as a country which is unlikely to be selected, and deepen the discussion on important perspectives for establishing safe and attractive migration routes.

4:00-4:05pm Opening remarks
-Miyahara Chie, director general, JICA Ogata Research Institute

4:05-4:10pm Introduction
-Saito Kiyoko, senior research fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute

4:10-4:55pm Presentation by panelists

-Budiant, Firman, researcher, Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency
“Challenges faced by the system in Indonesia for sending workers”
-Asai Akiko, professor, J. F. Oberlin University
“The personal decision-making process of international migrant labor applicants: based on an outbound case study”
-Saito Kiyoko, senior research fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute
“Defining the decision-making mechanisms pertaining to international labor migration: establishing attractive and safe migration routes to Japan”

4:55-5:55pm Panel Discussion and Q&A

Moderator: Amameishi Shinjiro, executive senior research fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute

Panelists:
-Asai Akiko, professor, J. F. Oberlin University
-Budiant, Firman, researcher, Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency
-Liu-Farrer, Gracia, professor, Waseda University
-Nishida Motoyuki, JICA expert (advisor for promotion of accepting and sending foreign human resource in Indonesia)
-Saito Kiyoko, senior research fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute

5:55-6:00pm Closing remarks
-Shishido Kenichi, Special Assistant to the President, JICA

JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development（Ms. Kajino）
E-mail：dritrp@jica.go.jp

Please register by clicking here.
*Registration will be closed at noon December 7 (Japan time).