Japan "Running Out of Engineers"

bfwebster writes "A story in the New York Times reports that Japan, a country that rebuilt itself as a technological power after World War II, now faces an increasing shortage of college graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Says the article: 'By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers.' The article goes on to point out that the overall trend of waning interest in science and technology has been going on for 'almost two decades' and that the shortage is made worse by the traditional reluctance of Japanese companies to hire and use foreign workers. The US has had a similar trend for quite some time: 'Undergraduate engineering enrollment declined through most of the 1980s and 1990s, rose from 2000 through 2003, and declined slightly in recent years.'"

Comments

Re:Outsourcing to Japan

[freedom_india]

Japanese also seem to have an entrenched attitude of looking down on foreigners That IS the single problem Japan has and will have.
They would rather build $100,000 robots than import foreign workers or outsource.
They are SO paranoid that a japanese cop will believe the japanese pickpocket than you when you goto complain.
WW2 did not teach them squat.
I say let them die out completely and be replaced by a race of Robots.
Its easier dealing with robots than with japanese who have the condescending tone and the "holier than thou" attitude.
No Wonder Germany is kicking their a$$ in precision-equipment markets.

Re:Only on Slashdot...

[Yetihehe]

At least no one yet used the N word. (I mentioned it, so now expect it in 3.. 2.. 1.. )

Re:"Manager" is a title, not a profession

[ultranova]

I usually don't comment on English usage on the internet,

While "internet" might refer to some unspecified network of networks, unlikely as that is, "the Internet" is a proper noun without any ambiquity and should be capitalized.

I usually don't comment on English usage on the Internet either, but your post was simply too irresistible a target to pass.