Inside Asian Gaming

JAN 2019 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 11 FOREIGN WORKERS ESSENTIAL TO EARLY JAPAN IR OPERATIONS: LAWRENCE HO MELCO Resorts and Entertainment Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho says the company will look to bring in more than 10,000 foreign workers during the early years of operations should it win a license to build an integrated resort in Japan. The opportunity to introduce foreign expertise forms part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s immigration law reforms which allow 14 industries, including hotels and F&B, to employ foreign workers. The immigration bill was enacted in December. Discussing how introduction of the bill will impact Melco in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review , Ho said, “We will [initially] need to bring in foreign expertise, just like how we did in Macau and Manila. “We expect employees of between 10,000 and 20,000 will be needed, so we need help on [the] immigration side. “The bulk of employees will [eventually] be Japanese but at the same time it is unrealistic to say so from the beginning, as the industry does not exist yet in Japan.” The Prime Minister’s immigration bill is in response to ongoing labor shortages in Japan due to the country’s ageing population, with the government hoping to bring in around 345,000 foreign workers over the next five years.