Japan gov't approves bill to widen immigration doors to foreign workers
Senior citizens walk through a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, August 16, 2012. [Photo: VCG]
The Japanese government approved a bill on Friday to revise the immigration control law to allow more foreign workers to undertake work in a variety of sectors.
The move comes as the nation grapples with a serious labor crunch caused by its rapidly aging and shrinking society.
Due to the rapidly graying population and declining birthrate, the bill, which was approved by the cabinet on Friday, will allow eligible foreign workers to apply for newly-created visas spanning a variety of sectors from agriculture and construction, to daycare and nursing.
"Labor shortages are starting to become a major factor hampering economic growth. We will create a proper system," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted as saying at a parliamentary committee on Friday.
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