The New York Times has an interesting article about the shortage of engineers in Japan. It’s really an astounding fact given how Japan is such a leader in science and technology. A big theme of the article is the Japanese attitude towards foreigners since allowing engineers to immigrate - as U.S. high-tech companies do to a large extent - would help ameliorate the shortage.
By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers. Some companies are moving research jobs to India and Vietnam because they say it is easier than bringing non-Japanese employees here.
Since 1999, the number of undergraduates majoring in sciences and engineering has fallen 10 percent to 503,026, according to the education ministry. (Just 1.1 percent of those students were foreign students.) The number of students majoring in creative arts and health-related fields rose during that time, the ministry said.
Mr. Hikita and other engineering students say their dwindling numbers offer one benefit: they are a hot commodity among corporate recruiters. A labor ministry survey last year showed there were 4.5 job openings for every graduate specializing in fields like electronic machinery.
Japan needs many highly skilled foreign workers including engineers.
Well, Japanese companies might try rewarding innovation. Engineers in Japan work like dogs, and get paid in peanuts. That’s why they lose their best to the US. Name any famous Japanese innovation, and you can bet that the engineer behind it was lucky if he got even enough to buy a small car for it.
And then there’s motivation. Most Japanese kids are pretty well pampered, while India cranks out a class of top-notch engineers every 5 seconds.
There is the question, though, of whether immigration is always necessary. Much of the work can be done on-line, and an engineer in Bombay who is earning even a modest Japanese salary can live very well. Better than the average Japanese doctor. So, why bring him here?
Well, many labor forces are already getting supplied by oversea on-line outsourcings. The problem is Japan needs lots more excellent engineers or scientists who can contribute to industry innovations. It’s welcome if those people come from overseas and work and pay taxes and consume in Japan.
For the time being it seems nurses and nursing caregivers are in shortage.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200802120307.html