日本のダイバーシティ・マネジメントと高度外国人材の雇用問題―人種・民族・国籍の違いをめぐる政策と実践のねじれ―

抄録

In Japan, growing interest in human resource diversity, coupled with policy initiatives, has led to increased efforts to promote the employment of high-skilled foreign workers. This paper analyzes how the employment of such foreign nationals has come to attract social and policy attention, considering the historical context of diversity management and immigration policy in Japan. Diversity management in the United States, originally developed as a response to discrimination and disparities faced by women, ethnic and racial minorities, eventually gained legitimacy as a strategic human resource approach. As this concept spread globally, it also began influencing Japanese corporate practices. However, in Japan, the long-standing myth of a homogeneous nation and the selective immigration policy emphasizing specialization in conjunction with stricter immigration controls have rendered ethnic and racial minority issues largely invisible.

As a result, diversity management in Japan has been narrowed to focus primarily on differences in nationality, rather than on broader issues of ethnicity or race as in the United States. This process has fostered a situation in which Japanese firms selectively include foreign workers with high-level skills in the workforce, with their entry tightly controlled by their expertise. This selective inclusion ultimately reinforces the logic of Japanese firms, which employ foreign workers based on strategic convenience rather than a commitment to diversity or recognizing the need for equity. Consequently, the current trend of recruiting highly skilled foreign professionals legitimizes a passive human resource strategy that lacks a strong sense of urgency or necessity in Japanese firms. This dynamic has contributed to a disconnect between the substantial influx of foreign workers and the limited development of institutional frameworks for effective inclusion.