Japan Textile Association: Japan's textile industry is facing labor shortage

As if Japan's textile and garment manufacturers were concerned that the 311-magistrate earthquake and tsunami were not enough, now they have to worry about the shortage of labor.

Japan's knitting, woven and sewing industries employ tens of thousands of foreign trainers, most of whom are three-year technology transfer from mainland China, India and the Philippines.

The Japan Textile Association (The Japan Textile Society) estimates that three-quarters of people have left Japan after the earthquake. Many people are worried about the potential radiation radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant because of pressure from their parents. The aforementioned foreign workers went to Japan on the basis of a government-authorized mechanism. Before the earthquake, about 200,000 people were employed in Japan, and about 27.6% of them were employed in the garment manufacturing industry. The Japan Textile Association stated that it does not have a clear figure of foreign trainers leaving Japan to take refuge, but it is estimated that about 30,000 people have not returned to work.

The association stated that according to the law, foreign training personnel of Japanese companies must not exceed 20% of the total number of employees. If the trainers do not return, the industry will be forced to drastically reduce production. At the same time as production is moved abroad, Japan’s domestic companies continue to operate in the form of high-quality, high-value-added products. However, the entire industry may be disintegrated due to this Miyagi earthquake and nuclear accident.

Lack of cheap imported workers, garment and yarn manufacturers and dyeing and finishing companies will have to employ more expensive Japanese workers, which in turn will exacerbate foreign competition.