Over 60 percent of Ukrainian evacuees who fled from their homes to Japan following Russia's invasion in February are unemployed despite the majority of them seeking jobs, a recent survey by the Nippon Foundation showed.
Of the 60.9 percent of the 750 respondents who said they do not have jobs, 58.4 percent said they are looking for employment, while of the 39.1 percent who have found jobs, 79.5 percent worked part-time, according to the two-week online survey conducted from late November.
Asked about their level of Japanese language skills, often a requirement for working in Japan, only 17.3 percent said they have basic, conversational level Japanese, while 46.9 percent said they mostly do not speak or understand the language.
In a sign evacuees are satisfied living in Japan, a total of 65.6 percent said they want to stay in the country for a while until the situation in Ukraine calms down or as long as possible, compared to 3.2 percent who said they want to return to Ukraine as soon as they can or wish to move to another country.
As of Dec. 14, 2,091 Ukrainian evacuees were in Japan, of whom 1,887 were issued a "designated activities" visa that enables them to work for up to a year, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.
The Nippon Foundation has been offering broad support to the evacuees, after announcing in March it will provide some 5 billion yen ($37.8 million) over three years to aid their travel and living expenses, with 1 million yen set as maximum financial support for living in Japan per person and 3 million yen per family.
The philanthropic foundation has also allocated around 1.53 billion yen to subsidize volunteer groups and domestic nonprofit organizations working to support Ukrainian evacuees in finding jobs and acquiring Japanese skills.
Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa told a press conference that the organization wants to continue researching the current living conditions of the evacuees to create a better system for helping them live in Japan.
The survey, carried out between Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, targeted evacuees aged 18 or above who are receiving support from the foundation.
Related coverage:
U.N. refugee head hails Japan's acceptance of Ukrainian evacuees
FOCUS: How Japan's Justice Ministry led moves to accept Ukrainian evacuees
