This article ("High-tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers") was from Saturday's (May 17) issue of the New York Times. It seems that after decades of sustained economic success that has catapulted it to the position of the world's second largest economy, Japan now finds itself facing the same problems that a lot of industrialized nations are facing: a lack of engineering and technology graduates.
At first glance, such shortage may present a much needed opportunity for engineering and technology graduates from poor nations. One of the world's largest economies, one that boasts of the highest standards of living in the world is experiencing a rather severe skill shortage. Thus, graduates from poorer nations ought to be flocking to it in droves, right?
Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Japan, unlike other industrialized nations, will probably have a harder time attracting foreign talent to its shores. This is due to the fact that unlike its first world peers, Japan unfortunately has gained a reputation for being a closed society where language and culture have proven to be strong barriers to any outsider.
English is not widely spoken and there are still a considerable number of companies that are against the idea of bringing in foreign workers into their fold. There are glass ceilings in a lot of companies and discrimination against foreign workers is still quite common. There may be some bright spots here and there but as a whole, the country presents quite a number of barriers that a foreigner could find difficult to deal with.
Such attitudes against foreigners is also reflected on its immigration policies for Japan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest immigration rate among industrialized nations. Aside from engineers, Japan is also experiencing a shortage of nurses. However, unlike the US and a number of European countries, it has steadfastly refused to increase its recruitment of foreign workers.
Japan's population is slowly but surely aging due to a negative population growth rate. Unlike China and India with their huge talent pools, Japan does not have that benefit. As per the article, Japanese companies can either increase their hiring of foreign workers or put up factories outside of Japan just to stay relevant and competitive in the global economy.
If it fails to hire the engineering and technology graduates it desperately needs, Japan's competitiveness could slide into irrelevance within the next 100 years. If it fails to bring in more nurses, the quality of health care in that country would also deteriorate. The country urgently needs to step out of its comfort zone to stay a step or two ahead of its rivals. If it fails to do so, then it might as well consider ceding its title as Asia's richest economy to China soon.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A Shortage of Engineers (and Nurses too)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 responses:
Japan hasn't really opened its doors to immigrants and has strict labour laws. I guess the agreement between the Phils and the Japanese government for nurses will be realised soon. I guess the agreement has been approved if I'm not mistaken.
I'm not sure what engineering field are they short of. Has everyone gone manga? :)
It won't be a problem as economy is healthy, they can always employ if there is an acute need.
The aging population of Japan is something that has been an issue several years now. Young ones are happy being single, employed and earning. No time for love? :)
i hope they will invest more in the Philippines and i think that's their plan as majority of the companies here in the philippines are japan based.
Ipanema,
I don't think it's a case of not having time for love. I guess it's more about getting married later and/or having kids later, if at all.
As for engineers, I would venture to say that the need probably cuts across the entire spectrum.
The Dong,
I sure hope that they do consider our country as one of the primary places to invest in. It would sure give hope and opportunity to a lot of Filipino kids who are contemplating a career in such field.
that surely is correct. proofof that is having a credit card brand of their own (JCB). even my colleagues who frequent the country have difficulty using Visa?Mastercard and they prompted to get a JCB card.
It sadly a case of isolation that they are harboring. if they thought china has been for a time a sleeping giant, it is arguably safe to say that japan is headed towrds their bedroom for a slumber.
The Suspect,
It's a bit ironic that in spite of the global reach and influence of its companies, Japan has maintained a bit of an isolationist attitude. It seems that they're very good in doing business with the world. However, I think that's the extent of how much they want to deal with outsiders. This may sound a bit cold but in effect, they seem to be saying that they want our money but they don't want us.
Japan will always be a closed society as far as outsiders are concerned. It has been their way for centuries, and will still be for the next. Their distrust for foreigners --- especially the "white devils" --- seemed hardwired into their system. Heck, they even have a different set of design/models for their hi-tech gadgets, cars and appliances from those sold abroad if you notice.
Rudy,
I think as a closed society, they can only go so far. They also run the risk of hollowing their economy out by shifting a lot of their manufacturing to low-cost countries simply because they lack the engineers.
As for the cars, yes, I did notice that the models they have at home are different from the ones they ship out. It's a two-tier system that they have going.
The Japanese economic model's reputation took a really hard hit during the 1990s. Japan hasn't fully recovered from that decade-long recession. I venture to say that it would be hard for it to get back to the economy it once was back in the late 1980s now that it's facing serious competition from South Korea and China.
One of the attributes of a prosperous country is always negative growth rate and that's because its people have a high standard of living and can't afford to have kids and not provide them with adequate attention and care.
Japan hasn't given citizenship to some 400,000 Koreans who had lived in the country for decades so I doubt if it will even think of an open door policy on immigration.
Japan is in my #1 spot of wishlist of countries I would like to work in. Not only Japan has high standards when it comes to IT professinals, it also requires IT people to speak their language.
I even remember one my friends telling me, most IT geniuses are not very good when it comes to speaking foreign languages besides English, because computers know English.
(Did I make any sense? :D)
BW,
I agree with you in that I also seriously doubt that an open immigration policy will be adopted in that country anytime soon or even within our lifetime. At this point, the country's running on the strength of the quality of its products. Were it not for those products and given their sorry history with their Asian neighbors, I doubt if any country would pay them any serious attention.
Rai,
If you really do plan to establish a career in Japan, I wish you the best of luck.
Thanks for the visit.
hindi lang engineers at nurses ang magiging shortage sa kanila, kundi ang mismong population. yan ang sabi sakin ng supervisor kong japs dati, kung sino na raw ang magbabayad ng taxes para maalagaan silang matatanda na eh mas marami ang matatanda kaysa sa mga bata. yung iba kasi, sobrang subsob na sa trabaho at ayaw nang magasawa.
RJ,
Iyan ang isa pa nilang magiging problema. Lalaki ang tax na ipapataw sa mga nagtatrabaho para suportahan ang mga higit na nakararaming mga matanda. Ang nakakatulong lang sa kanila ngayon eh ang mga corporate taxes dahil maganda ang benta ng mga produkto nila sa buong mundo. Pero kung wala iyon, sasakit ang ulo nila.
Post a Comment