Development of Temporary and Seasonal Agricultural Labor Forces in Japan

Abstract

This paper presented a literature review of the actual situation and efforts in securing temporary and seasonal agricultural labor forces in Japan. Until the 1990s, farmers can secure temporary agricultural labor forces from within their communities in most parts of Japan. However, with the decrease in the number of farmers, labor shortages in the horticultural sector became apparent in the 2000s. In Hokkaido, the temporary agricultural labor forces were provided by a group of female laborers; however, from the late 1990s, the aging of these women began to raise the issue of labor shortages. Therefore, job offers were spread to more regions, but securing laborers in the domestic labor market became difficult in recent years. Under these circumstances, the foreign technical training system played a role in the acceptance of foreign agricultural laborers, but there were many restrictions on accepting foreign workers as temporary or seasonal labor forces. Alternatively, from 2019, the “Specified Skilled Worker Systems” was started, making it possible to accept foreign agricultural laborers more flexibly. This means that the target regions for job offers are expanding beyond national borders