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According to the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, the total number of Vietnamese interns had reached over 90,000 by the end of 2016. Vietnam has the highest number of interns in Japan among other countries.
To compensate for a labor shortage, Japan received 95,000 interns annually in 2006-2009. The number of interns has been increasing year after year, reaching 110,000 in 2016. The new law in 2016 extended the duration of interns’ stay in Japan to five years.
A survey by VEPR showed that the problem in sending interns to Japan was the lack of transparency and information sharing. This leads to high intern recruitment costs, thus putting pressure on interns.
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Under current regulations set by MOLISA, intern export companies can collect $3,600 from every worker who goes to Japan. The total cost laborers have to pay is $5,300, of which $4,700 is borrowed. |
Under current regulations set by MOLISA, intern export companies can collect $3,600 from every worker who goes to Japan. The total cost laborers have to pay is $5,300, of which $4,700 is borrowed.
According to VEPR’s director Nguyen Duc Thanh, laborers have to pay additional fees for accommodation, meals and study, which means that the total expenses are much higher than the stated levels.
Intern companies mostly seek workers through intermediary parties such as vocational schools in localities and have to pay these parties.
Since most interns live in rural and remote areas in Vietnam, they don’t have much opportunity to access information. Therefore, they tend to contact local intermediary units to approach intern export companies.
Despite high fees, Vietnamese are still going to Japan. VEPR said the total income a worker can receive in Japan can be up to $44,500. They can save around $23,000.
After finishing the internship, workers have job opportunities in Vietnam thanks to foreign language skills and working skills they acquired during their stay.
However, Nguoi Lao Dong has reported that many enterprises hesitate to employ interns returning from Japan because they expect high salaries.
The jobs taken by 49 percent of interns who were in Japan have no relations to the jobs they were trained for previously.
Many Vietnamese interns, after returning from Japan, cannot use the skills and knowledge they received in Japan.
Some of them find it difficult to adapt to social conditions and the working environment. At least 61 percent of returnees choose jobs unrelated to the jobs they had in Japan.
Vietnamese students are also pouring into Japan. Bloomberg reported that the number of Vietnamese studying in Japan, including language schools, grew more than 12-fold in the six years to May 2016, reaching about 54,000.
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