TOKYO – Filipino workers in Japan reached a new high in 2025, government data shows, as employers continued turning to foreign labor to fill widening gaps in the country’s shrinking workforce.
Figures released by the labor ministry on Friday indicate that 260,869 Filipino nationals were employed in the Land of the Rising Sun as of October 2025, up 6.2% from the previous year. Filipinos remain the third-largest foreign workforce in the country.
Vietnamese nationals accounted for the largest share at 605,906 workers, followed by Chinese nationals at 431,949, according to the ministry.
Overall, Japan’s foreign workforce rose to a record 2,571,037, the highest since the government began requiring employers to report foreign worker employment in 2007. Filipinos represented 10.1% of that total.
By industry, manufacturing employed the largest number of Filipino workers at 82,561. The services sector followed with 50,701 workers, while 23,861 were employed in medical care and welfare, areas that continue to face labor shortages due to Japan’s aging population.
The steady increase in Filipino employment comes even as the yen’s depreciation raises questions about wage competitiveness compared with other destinations for migrant workers. - Florenda Corpuz
(Photo: Pedestrians cross near Yurakucho Station in Tokyo on Jan. 30, 2026. | Din Eugenio)
