### a. “Engineer”, “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, “Intra-company Transferee” (Data Section 2, Statistics (1) 2-1, 3-1, 4-1)

The total number of foreign nationals newly entering Japan with a status of residence corresponding to foreign employees working for an organization in Japan was 16,335 in 2012, consisting of three types of statuses of residence: 5,216 with the status of residence of “Engineer”, 4,993 with the status of residence of “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, and 6,126 with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee”. The number of foreign employees with the status of residence of “Engineer” had increased by 1,038 (24.8%), those with the status of residence of “Specialist in Humanities/International Services” had increased by 335 (7.2%), and those with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee” had increased by 778 (14.5%) from 2011, respectively. The total number of foreign workers with these statuses of residence had increased by 2,151 (15.2%).

According to the statistics on the status of residence of “Engineer” by nationality/region, the largest number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Engineer” came from China (1,734, or 33.2%), followed by India (847, or 16.2%), Viet Nam (802, or 15.4%), and R.O. Korea (403, or 7.7%). The number of newly entering foreign nationals from those four countries accounted for 72.6% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Engineer”. In addition to the decreasing trend in 2008 after the “Lehman Shock”, the aftereffects of the global economic recession in 2009 led to a significant decrease in the number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Engineer”. However, it increased again in 2011, and the number in 2012 had increased by 1,038 (24.8%) compared with 2011.

The statistics for foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, by nationality/region show that the largest number came from the U.S. (1,016, or 20.3%), followed by China (902, or 18.1%), R.O. Korea (603, or 12.1%) and the U.K. (304, or 6.1%). These top four countries accounted for 56.6% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with this status of residence.

With regard to newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee”, statistics by nationality/region show that the largest number came from China (1,967, or 32.1%), followed by the Philippines (669, or 10.9%), India (505, or 8.2%) and R.O. Korea (491, or 8.0%), and these top four countries accounted for 59.3% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Intra-company Transferee”.

### b. “Skilled Labor” (Data Section 2, Statistics (1) 6-1)

The number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor” as specialists with skills unique to a particular foreign country had been on the decline since 2001, but the figure started increasing in 2004. The number of such foreign nationals started decreasing again in 2009, but increased again in 2011. The number of such foreign nationals had increased to 4,910 in 2012, an increase of 732 (17.5%) from 2011.

According to statistics by nationality/region, the largest number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor” came from China (2,920, or 59.5%), followed by Nepal (809, or 16.5%), India (432, or 8.8%) and Thailand (162, or 3.3%) in 2012. This was due in part to the fact that most of the foreign nationals with this status of residence were chefs of foreign cuisine, and these top four countries accounted for 88.0% of the total number of newly entering foreign nationals with the status of residence of “Skilled Labor”.