Tokyo drift: Japan is attracting foreign workers, as it grapples with an aging population

1/28/24 7:00PM

Tokyo drift

‍In recent years, Japan has increasingly relied on external manpower to make up for labor shortages, with the country’s working age population having steeply declined since 1995. However, that trend escalated to new heights in 2023, and Japan’s Labor Ministry reported on Friday that the number of foreign workers surpassed 2 million for the first time ever — roughly tripling over the past decade and up 12% on last year.

Japan has issued more international visas across all qualification levels, from engineers and researchers to factory hands and caregivers, with employers using wage hikes and improved stability to draw in new talent — although the report outlined that it was “specialized skilled workers” seeing the biggest increase, soaring more than 75% to 139k.

Coming of age

Japan faces a similar, although arguably more acute, set of economic challenges to China due to its top-heavy workforce. One study recently predicted that the country might face a shortage of more than 11 million workers by 2040 due to death rates surging and birth rates hitting all-time lows last year. In 1993, nearly 32% of Japan’s population was 24 or younger — today, it’s estimated at less than 21%.

The news comes as Japanese authorities look to reinvigorate the economy after the “lost decades” — a post-1990 period that’s been marked by very little growth, stubbornly low inflation, and few productivity gains. But, more recently, there are green shoots of optimism and change: wages are rising faster than at any time in the last 3 decades, deflationary risks seem to be abating, and CEOs in the Nikkei stock index are getting younger as the country begins to gently move away from its traditional age-based hierarchies and lifetime employment models.

Jake Lahut

PAIN AT THE PUMP

4/29/26

Analyst: US could see $5 gas by Memorial Day, $6 per gallon on the table

Gas could hit $5 per gallon by Memorial Day, $6 by later in the summer: “Nothing’s impossible at this point.”

Gas station in front of the Gordie Howe International Bridge under construction.

Tom Jones4/29/26

The UAE’s OPEC exit will hit the group in the barrels

After just shy of 60 years in OPEC, its membership even predating its status as a nation-state, the United Arab Emirates yesterday announced its shocking departure from the oil production group, effective May 1, as the knock-on effects of the Iran war continue to play out across the Middle East and the energy landscape.

For context, the UAE produces the third-highest amount of oil in the group, per April data and OPEC’s latest set of annual statistics.

According to the cartel’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the OPEC group was collectively exporting some 19 million barrels of crude oil a day last year, with the United Arab Emirates accounting for some 14% of that daily output.

UAExit means UAExit

The nation, whose energy minister told Reuters yesterday that the decision was taken “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production” and wasn’t made following discussions with any other country, made up a healthy share of the group’s total confirmed crude oil reserves, as well.

Of the 12 nations in the core group, which was founded by just five oil superpowers back in September 1960, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of crude oil daily, pumping out 3.36 million and 6.05 million barrels, respectively, each day to nations around the world.

For its part, the UAE said it will “continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions,” per the official state news agency. Clearly, the nation now wants a little more control of just how much oil it can pump around the world, with the UAE having to eat a large proportion of lost revenues due to its healthy abundance and OPEC restrictions.