Do you think foreign technical intern trainees in Japan are really just cheap labor?

Do you think foreign technical intern trainees in Japan are really just cheap labor?

Cheap labor? More like late stage capitalist indentured servitude.

In a supposed free market capitalist rules based democracy.

Restrictions on freedom of movement, poverty wage conditions and almost unlimited opportunities for unchecked abuse by the owner class

Their salaries are the same as those of Japanese workers doing the same job. However, there are not enough Japanese wanting to do those jobs for the money offered. If the foreign "trainees" didn't come then wages would rise. So the "trainees" put a downward pressure on pay.

Of course it's just cheap labour.

“Do you think foreign technical intern trainees in Japan are really just cheap labor?”

Either way it’s a win-win situation. The technical intern trainees learns and retain new skills which are applicable later in life benefiting the intern home country in the long-run. While in short term the company or organization benefit from the intern contribution however little it might be.

Either way it’s a win-win situation

That only applies if the program actually reaches its intended consequences (providing the trainee an opportunity to work with the skills he got). If that is not the case this is just a win for the company while the trainee can end up with important debt and no prospect of getting a job (much less a good one) thanks to the training. Seeing examples of extreme abuse the benefits for the companies are not that little, and may be their whole business model.

Cheap labor, more like slavey. They might get the same pay rate but don,t get the benefit of a national, We are taking minimum wage Trainees. You can't get pay any less but they do not get accommodations support were National get half the cost of accommodation paid when accommodation is supplied by the company. The company get tax concession on the properties but a foreign trainee has to pay the full amount. The women get single out by the supervisor for sexual attention or get the worst task and no overtime. It is a form of slavey. This slavey take on all forms. Like in the USA where a waiter is pay lowest wage possible and hand out from customer in the from of tips.

For the most part, I think they are working and not being "trained" on an ongoing basis.

So they are labour, not trainees.

They are. We know they are and they know they are. Japan uses a very specific term for it but the rest of the world has programs like this too just without the nonsensical wording.

Not sure what technical skills they are gaining picking fruit or tearing down buildings etc. or working part time at a combini that they can’t get back home

Of course they are. However, if we start to bring in highly qualified people, we will find companies will bring them to cut native people salaries, with staganting salaries, and companies won't want to hire native workers incase they demand higher pay. If they are filling positions that can't be filled by all the university graduates and senmon Gakko then it's ok to fill those positions.You don't need a degree to pull a potato. We can't be in a situation where the conenvience story worker, cleaner, and the nurse are payed the same wage. Then again if we are honest, which one of us cosumers really, really want to pay more for the same vegetable,fruit, or whatever? There are people here who will nickle and dime you, just for an Uber taxi, cause they save 100,yen. Then they'll turn around and complain that nobodies salary has increased in years.Cake and eat it come to mind.

“there are just cheap modern day slaves with nice name as "trainees"...”

If this usually the case no one will ever apply for the training programs.

Yes. It is little more than legalized work-trafficking.

yes. duh.

Are they paid less than the same job for a Japanese person?

modern day slaves

Are they force to come to Japan and work in any way?

(I really do not know the answer)

I would think some are & some aren't. intern trainees are used in most places. It can be a win win. Trainees get some free training & trainers get some free labor. Pretty sure there are some companies out there abusing the system though.

Modern day slavery!

these are modern day slaves...to be exact.

For those asking - NO - trainees are very frequently not paid the same as their Japanese counterparts. In many cases, they are underpaid (or paid minimum wage for jobs that typically pay double or more). In addition, they have expensive housing (which they are not allowed to choose - they MUST use housing provided by their employers... which is often slum-like conditions and not fit for anything longer than a week or two, never mind three years). Additional deductions are often taken for any number of reasons - a majority of them are not legitimate. Companies also don't provide the same basics that they do for their Japanese staff (such as contribution to health-care). The hours they work also frequently exceed legal maximums and are incorrectly logged to avoid being flagged. While it's far from all companies, it's still enough of a significant number that it's a well documented problem and suicide rates are exceptionally high as a result. The outcomes would be different if companies were severely punished for not following the laws and utilizing loopholes. Yes, there are laws in place that are clearly defined in the labour code - unfortunately, most people (trainees included) are not aware of them and have few resources to learn, and still fewer support systems to help them in times of need.

As one that had worked on an Japanese Recruiting and Outsourcing company, the truth is even worst.

The trainees are stuck in a room 10 or 12, passports taken, not allowed to leave the campus area, etc.

If this is not modern slavery system, then I do not know what it is.

This program is a form of modern slavery, producing people with empty minds, exploiting their strength and youth at a cheap price.

Then the Japanese people complained and blamed them for some evils. People who blame cheap labor are ignorant people, they are being fed by a part of the effort of those workers. what a shame.