Brokerage in the Cross-border Labour Market: Recruitment and Training of Vietnamese IT Workers by Japanese Temporary Staffing Firms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite a declining population, the Japanese government has been reluctant to relax its immigration policy, which has forced private companies to seek their own ways of sourcing foreign labour. This article explores how Japanese temporary staffing firms (TSFs) have shaped the cross-border labour market for skilled labour candidates by developing their own educational programmes and networks in Japan and Vietnam. While existing research on the international migration industry and brokerage focuses on private brokers in the different stages of migration, this study examines the role of private actors in the migration process, from recruitment to training. The study is based on fieldwork, including interviews with staff of Japanese TSFs, their client companies and Vietnamese IT workers. The findings are twofold. First, through their own recruitment and training schemes, these TSFs provide Japanese language and culture training to Vietnamese skilled labour candidates on behalf of their clients. Second, such training is used to create ‘ideal’ migrant workers for Japanese employers. The study thus illustrates that intermediary actors are indispensable to the migration process, which creates mutual dependency between TSFs, Vietnamese workers and Japanese companies in the cross-border labour market.