What Jobs Do Technical Intern Trainees Do in Japan? FY2024 Figures
This article summarises the official fiscal year 2024 statistics (1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025) published by OTIT, the Organization for Technical Intern Training (外国人技能実習機構), so you can see which jobs technical intern trainees in Japan actually do and where Vietnamese trainees are concentrated.
Summary
- The two largest sectors are construction (25.1%) and food processing (20.2%), followed by machinery and metals (11.9%).
- The single largest occupation is prepared meal manufacturing (そう菜製造業): 9.7% of all plans, and 14.4% among Vietnamese trainees.
- Vietnamese trainees are still the largest group at 40.6% of plans, down from 46.3% a year earlier. Indonesia rose to 26.1%.
- Vietnamese trainees lean towards factory work: food, plastic moulding, industrial packaging and welding. Indonesian trainees have more construction plans than Vietnamese trainees, despite a smaller total.
- The technical intern programme ends on 1 April 2027 and is replaced by the Employment for Skill Development system (育成就労).
How to read the numbers
The unit is approved training plans for the year, 318,572 in total (FY2023: 350,026). A trainee gets a new plan when moving from year 1 to year 2 or year 3, so this is not the number of people currently in Japan. The proportions, however, still describe the occupational mix accurately.
For reference: at the end of June 2025 about 449,432 people held technical intern resident status in Japan.
By sector
| Sector | Plans | Share 2024 | Share 2023 | Vietnamese | Indonesian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 79,942 | 25.1% | 23.6% | 24,490 | 32,053 |
| Food processing | 64,474 | 20.2% | 19.6% | 35,408 | 10,489 |
| Machinery and metals | 37,848 | 11.9% | 13.1% | 17,710 | 9,061 |
| Agriculture and forestry | 21,105 | 6.6% | 7.2% | 6,404 | 5,907 |
| Textiles and clothing | 16,314 | 5.1% | 5.8% | 7,119 | 1,435 |
| Fisheries | 2,136 | 0.7% | 0.7% | 588 | 1,428 |
| One-year-only occupations | 8,978 | 2.8% | 2.9% | 2,395 | 2,606 |
| Other | 87,703 | 27.5% | 27.1% | 35,069 | 20,257 |
"Other" covers welding, plastic moulding, painting, industrial packaging, nursing care, building cleaning, car repair, hotels and many smaller trades. Construction and food processing gained share compared with the previous year, while machinery, agriculture and textiles lost share.
By nationality
| Nationality | 2024 | Share 2024 | Share 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnam | 129,183 | 40.6% | 46.3% |
| Indonesia | 83,238 | 26.1% | 21.4% |
| Philippines | 29,784 | 9.3% | 8.2% |
| Myanmar | 29,199 | 9.2% | 8.2% |
| China | 17,809 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| Cambodia | 9,485 | 3.0% | 3.3% |
| Thailand | 8,197 | 2.6% | 2.8% |
| Nepal | 3,089 | 1.0% | 0.7% |
| Other | 8,588 | 2.7% | 2.5% |
The clearest trend is Indonesia's rapid growth past the one-quarter mark, while the Vietnamese share dropped by almost 6 percentage points in a single year.
Top 15 occupations, all nationalities
| # | Occupation | Japanese | Sector | Plans | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prepared meal manufacturing | そう菜製造業 | Food processing | 30,749 | 9.7% |
| 2 | Scaffolding | とび | Construction | 23,614 | 7.4% |
| 3 | Crop farming | 耕種農業 | Agriculture | 16,999 | 5.3% |
| 4 | Welding | 溶接 | Other | 15,477 | 4.9% |
| 5 | Construction machinery operation | 建設機械施工 | Construction | 14,923 | 4.7% |
| 6 | Nursing care | 介護 | Other | 13,339 | 4.2% |
| 7 | Plastic moulding | プラスチック成形 | Other | 12,695 | 4.0% |
| 8 | Non-heated seafood processing | 非加熱性水産加工食品製造業 | Food processing | 11,841 | 3.7% |
| 9 | Industrial packaging | 工業包装 | Other | 11,795 | 3.7% |
| 10 | Women's and children's clothing | 婦人子供服製造 | Textiles | 10,614 | 3.3% |
| 11 | Painting | 塗装 | Other | 9,968 | 3.1% |
| 12 | Formwork construction | 型枠施工 | Construction | 9,738 | 3.1% |
| 13 | One-year-only occupations | 移行対象外職種 | – | 8,978 | 2.8% |
| 14 | Rebar work | 鉄筋施工 | Construction | 7,564 | 2.4% |
| 15 | Machining | 機械加工 | Machinery and metals | 6,535 | 2.1% |
Top 15 occupations among Vietnamese trainees
| # | Occupation | Japanese | Sector | Plans | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prepared meal manufacturing | そう菜製造業 | Food processing | 18,651 | 14.4% |
| 2 | Plastic moulding | プラスチック成形 | Other | 6,543 | 5.1% |
| 3 | Scaffolding | とび | Construction | 6,257 | 4.8% |
| 4 | Industrial packaging | 工業包装 | Other | 6,006 | 4.6% |
| 5 | Welding | 溶接 | Other | 5,987 | 4.6% |
| 6 | Non-heated seafood processing | 非加熱性水産加工食品製造業 | Food processing | 5,958 | 4.6% |
| 7 | Crop farming | 耕種農業 | Agriculture | 5,151 | 4.0% |
| 8 | Construction machinery operation | 建設機械施工 | Construction | 5,126 | 4.0% |
| 9 | Women's and children's clothing | 婦人子供服製造 | Textiles | 4,455 | 3.4% |
| 10 | Painting | 塗装 | Other | 3,696 | 2.9% |
| 11 | Machining | 機械加工 | Machinery and metals | 3,175 | 2.5% |
| 12 | Nursing care | 介護 | Other | 3,044 | 2.4% |
| 13 | Metal press work | 金属プレス加工 | Machinery and metals | 2,888 | 2.2% |
| 14 | Building cleaning | ビルクリーニング | Other | 2,408 | 1.9% |
| 15 | One-year-only occupations | 移行対象外職種 | – | 2,395 | 1.9% |
Some occupations are dominated by Vietnamese trainees: prepared meal manufacturing (60.7% of that occupation's plans), pickled vegetables (61.1%), printing (61.0%), underwear manufacturing (63.5%) and carpet manufacturing (69.7%). At the other end, Vietnamese trainees are a small share of nursing care (22.8%) and wood processing (20.8%), and are almost absent from fishing vessel work.
Learn Japanese for your own trade
If you are preparing to go, learn the vocabulary of your own occupation first. This site has vocabulary lessons by trade: construction, machinery, packaging, food processing and nursing care, plus occupational safety material and phrases used in factories. Around 200–300 specialist words are enough to follow everyday instructions on site.
The new system from 1 April 2027
On 26 September 2025 the Japanese Cabinet decided to introduce the Employment for Skill Development system (育成就労) from 1 April 2027, ending the technical intern programme that had run since 1993. The new goal is to train workers and secure labour at the same time, linked to the Specified Skilled Worker visa (特定技能). Major sectors such as construction, food, agriculture and nursing care are expected to remain central, but the detailed list of occupations may change.