"Foreign workers in Japan face 28% wage gap: government paper," 23 August 2024

[Unofficial description by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

The Cabinet Office's economic white paper for fiscal 2024 analysed the wages of more than 2 million foreign workers for the first time. It found that they earn 28% less than Japanese nationals. Even when adjusting for age, education, and other characteristics of individual workers or workplaces, there was still a 7% gap that cannot otherwise be explained.

The biggest wage disparity was seen in the technical intern training program. Wages are low even for specified skilled workers. It has been pointed out that there are limits on the ability to transfer skills and knowledge gained at one job to another workplace.

The white paper emphasised that where wage differences remain that cannot be reasonably explained, improvements to the underlying the customs are required.