Government and ILO discuss skill acquisition and gainful employment for Indian workers in Japan

In the international labour market, Japan offers unique opportunities for employing Indian workers

Press release | 16 March 2023
The International Labour Organization and the Ministry of External Affairs, in collaboration with NITI Aayog, hosted a Technical Roundtable on the Technical Intern Training (TITP) and Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) Program on 16 March 2023, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

Given the number of Indian workers who migrate internationally for better economic opportunities, the roundtable was a timely affair to deliberate on opportunities under the Technical Intern Training Programme and Specified Skilled Workers Program.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Satoshi Sasaki, Officer-In-Charge, ILO, New Delhi, in the past couple of decades, India had witnessed tremendous changes as migration flows have diversified and international labour migration from India had become increasingly heterogeneous, including in terms of destinations, occupations and skill set. The TITP and SSW Programs introduced by the Government of Japan established a pathway for both skill acquisition and gainful employment for workers from Asia.

Mr. Anurag Bhushan, Additional Secretary OIA-I from the Ministry of External Affairs highlighted the deep-rooted ties between India and Japan and emphasised that the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with Japan on SSW Program can boost people-to-people connect while strengthening the movement of labour from India to Japan. The Government of India is cognizant of the rapid developments and evolving trends in the international labour market and Japan in this context offers unique opportunity for employment of Indian workers.

The representative from NITI Aayog, Dr Sakshi Khurana, Senior Specialist (Labour, Employment and Skill Development) said that from a gender perspective, the corridor could create employment opportunities for care workers. Care work was crucial to ensure the health, education, and well-being of the current and future workforce. Care workers were essential to meet this basic and multidimensional human need for care.

The objective of the roundtable was to undertake a stock-taking exercise of the progress made so far since the inception of the TITP and SSW Programs. It also presented an opportunity for the effective mapping of responsibilities and functions of the various stakeholders involved, including Central Ministries, international organizations, sending agencies, employers’ organizations and trade unions, as well as the identification of the next steps in order to maximize the benefits of the TITP and SSW Programs.