Japan plans to hire 20,000 foreign taxi drivers

TWENTY thousand foreign taxi drivers are currently in demand in Japan, and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) expects high interest from Filipinos.

In an interview, DMW Deputy Minister Patricia Yvonne Konan said the Japanese government had expressed interest in hiring 20,000 taxi drivers.

“They said there was demand from the auto industry. When we clarified, they are actually taxi drivers,” Konan said.

“Even I was surprised by the sheer number of 20,000 plus taxi drivers in demand,” she added.

A DMW spokesman said the requirement was due to stricter regulations put in place by the host government for Japanese taxi drivers.

“This has limited the number of skilled workers in Japan, so they need to open up the market to foreign workers,” she said.

Conan said they have already expressed the country’s interest in sending overseas Filipino workers to their Japanese counterparts pending the release of details of the work order.

“I told them it would be very interesting for Filipino workers,” the official said.

She, however, said they expect job opportunities to require Japanese language skills.

“If you look at the type of job, it requires direct interaction with customers, being a taxi driver,” Conan said. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)