Poll: Nation in fear of foreign workers

Mainichi Shimbun, Tuesday 11 May 1999

More than 80 percent of Japanese support tight restrictions on allowing foreign workers into the country, a government survey released on Monday showed.

In the nationwide survey of 3,438 adults, carried out by the Economic Planning Agency in late February, 51.6 percent supported current rules that restrict work permits to foreigners with high-level skills, such as engineers.

Another 29.8 percent said those rules should be tightened further. No margin of error was given.

Among respondents opposing looser rules on admitting foreign workers, 68 percent cited joblessness as a concern. Another 30.4 percent expressed fear of high crime rates and inconveniences.

Hitoshi Iwata, an official of the agency's planning bureau, said the survey results will be used by a government council discussing the nation's next 10-year economic plan.