TOKYO - Japan’s labour ministry said Sept. 15 that inspectors found violations of labour standards-related laws at most targeted workplaces employing technical interns or Specified Skilled Workers in 2025.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said 9,619 of 13,148 inspected workplaces employing technical interns had at least one violation, a rate of 73.2%.
Among workplaces employing Specified Skilled Workers, violations were found at 6,179 of 8,082 sites, or 76.5%, according to the ministry’s Sept. 15 inspection results.
The inspections targeted workplaces where labour standards violations were suspected, so the rates are not representative of all employers using either program. The ministry also said a violation recorded at a workplace may have involved another worker, rather than a technical intern or Specified Skilled Worker.
Safety standards for machinery and other equipment were the most common violation category in both groups, affecting 22.8% of inspected technical-intern workplaces and 20.7% of Specified Skilled Worker sites.
Other common violations included failures to obtain required medical opinions on health-check results and to pay required wage premiums. Workplaces could be counted in more than one violation category.
Inspections covered 13,148 workplaces employing technical interns in 2025, up from 11,355 in 2024, while the violation rate remained at 73.2%. For Specified Skilled Worker workplaces, the number inspected rose from 5,750 to 8,082, with the violation rate edging up from 76.4% to 76.5%.
The ministry said it would take “strict action,” including referrals to prosecutors, in serious or malicious cases such as violations left uncorrected despite repeated guidance.
It referred 26 cases involving technical interns and nine involving Specified Skilled Workers to prosecutors in 2025.
Labour standards offices also received 108 complaints from technical interns and 150 from Specified Skilled Workers asking for alleged violations to be corrected. Unpaid wages or wage premiums were the most common complaint in both groups.
At the end of 2025, Japan had 456,618 residents holding Technical Intern status and 390,296 holding Specified Skilled Worker status, according to Immigration Services Agency year-end data.
Japan will launch the Employment for Skill Development Program on April 1, 2027, beginning a transition away from the Technical Intern Training Program.
Under transitional rules, covered technical interns can continue approved training after the new system starts.
