Questões de Inglês

Economists see Japan’s aging and declining population as one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Shinso Abe’s quest to get the country growing again. Unemployment is near the lowest level in decades as open positions go unfilled. Yet many Japanese are reluctant to take manual-labor jobs at the wages available. Therefore, Japan has reassessed its immigration policy and is now welcoming workers from overseas to fill those job openings.

The Wall Street Journal August, 31st.

In order to make Japan improve again, it is required to:

Nike: A Model of Success?

In the 1990s, Nike came under fire for the rock-bottom wages, abusive conditions and use of child labor at its overseas factories. Sales plummeted as angry customers held protests and boycotts. If Nike wanted to stay in business, it had to make big changes-and it did. Nike took stock of its behavior and today it has a team that monitors conditions in its factories. Inspection reports are made public online. Nike was also one of the first companies to publish the names and adresses of every overseas factory that makes its products.

Scholastic Magazine, September 2015

On accounts of Nike’s working policies abroad, sales:

Japan has long seen itself as an ethnically homogeneous nation, despite the presence of Koreans and other foreigners, and talk of allowing large numbers of foreign workers tends to raise fears of crime or social unrest. Immigration is still a sensitive subject.

  “There are several problems associated with immigration in European countries and we need to analyse these issues,” Mr. Abe told parliament.

  His aids point to modest changes, such as relaxing visa requirements for skilled workers and letting some foreign trainees stay an extra two years, but they say his administration isn’t likely to throw the door wide open.

The Wall Street Journal August, 31st

In the text above, it is claimed that Japan is:

  Japan has long seen itself as an ethnically homogeneous nation, despite the presence of Koreans and other foreigners, and talk of allowing large numbers of foreign workers tends to raise fears of crime or social unrest. Immigration is still a sensitive subject.

  “There are several problems associated with immigration in European countries and we need to analyse these issues,” Mr. Abe told parliament.

  His aids point to modest changes, such as relaxing visa requirements for skilled workers and letting some foreign trainees stay an extra two years, but they say his administration isn’t likely to throw the door wide open.

The Wall Street Journal August, 31st

The following sentence: “Japan’s administration isn’t against immigration, but it is said that it is unlikely to throw the door wide open.”, means that Japan...

Economists see Japan’s aging and declining population as one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Shinso Abe’s quest to get the country growing again. Unemployment is near the lowest level in decades as open positions go unfilled. Yet many Japanese are reluctant to take manual-labor jobs at the wages available. Therefore, Japan has reassessed its immigration policy and is now welcoming workers from overseas to fill those job openings.

The Wall Street Journal August, 31st.

The sentence: “Unemployment is near the lowest level in decades, yet many Japanese are reluctant to take manual-labor jobs at the wages available”, has exactly the same meaning as:

Positive aspects of Immigration

For industrialized countries in Western Europe or the USA, immigrants offer various benefits such as the following:

• Immigrants will often do jobs that people in the host country will not, or cannot do;

• Migrant workers often work longer hours and for lower salaries, and while that is controversial, sometimes exploitive, it benefits the host country;

• Immigrants, when made to feel welcome in the host society, can contribute to the diversity of that society, which can help with tolerance and understanding;

• For the host country’s economy, immigrants offer an increased talent pool, if they have been well educated in their original country.

For the countries mentioned above, immigrants: