Domestic Labor Market Construct Professionalism for Migrants: Focusing on Skilled Immigrant Workers in the Japanese Labor Market
Domestic Labor Market Construct Professionalism for Migrants: Focusing on Skilled Immigrant Workers in the Japanese Labor Market
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 00:00
Location: SJES030 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
In this paper, I focus on foreign workers permitted to work in Japan due to their expertise and examine how their workforce is commoditized in terms of professionalism. Japanese government selects immigrants to deal with labor market shortages by aligning their professional skills with industry needs, making this a critical issue for accepting foreign workers. When considering the conditions and boundaries for cross-border labor markets, a key issue is how the professionalism of these jobs is upheld by both labor and management. I concentrate on some industries where a certain level of expertise is readily acknowledged in the Japanese labor market (specifically the IT industry, research and education, and manufacturing) and analyze how skilled immigrant workers develop their sense of professionalism using qualitative data.
The analysis revealed that in the IT industry, where both labor and management evaluate individual skills according to international standards, an external indicator warrants the professionalism of skilled immigrants. This consensus, in turn, strengthened the labor-management negotiation structure and increased bargaining power for immigrants. Conversely, in the research and education sector, despite the externalization of the process for acquiring professionalism, the evaluation system remains deeply rooted in an internal labor market focused on skill development within the organization. As a result, international evaluation standards do not always align with domestic market value, forcing migrants to ethnicize and racialize their expertise. In the manufacturing industry, which is more heavily characterized by an internal labor market, foreign workers often need to position their professionalism with an added premium due to their foreign status. Through the case of foreign workers in Japan, we explore the relationship between professionalization and cross-border labor markets within an international context.
The analysis revealed that in the IT industry, where both labor and management evaluate individual skills according to international standards, an external indicator warrants the professionalism of skilled immigrants. This consensus, in turn, strengthened the labor-management negotiation structure and increased bargaining power for immigrants. Conversely, in the research and education sector, despite the externalization of the process for acquiring professionalism, the evaluation system remains deeply rooted in an internal labor market focused on skill development within the organization. As a result, international evaluation standards do not always align with domestic market value, forcing migrants to ethnicize and racialize their expertise. In the manufacturing industry, which is more heavily characterized by an internal labor market, foreign workers often need to position their professionalism with an added premium due to their foreign status. Through the case of foreign workers in Japan, we explore the relationship between professionalization and cross-border labor markets within an international context.