DMW Job Orders for Japan 2026: 166,540 Slots Listed

A job order starts as a foreign employer's request for workers. When DMW approves it for a licensed recruitment agency, that agency may recruit for that employer, country and position. Only an agency with a valid license may recruit you, and only for an approved job order.

For each order, the DMW list shows a balance. In this post we call it "slots". It is the number of workers still listed for that order. It is not a count of jobs still open, and it is not a promise of work. A balance can already be filled when you read it. A job order in the list is not a job offer.

The list also does not show pay, contract terms, working conditions or visa rules. We do not explain Japanese visa categories in this post, and we make no claim about what these jobs pay.

The whole list we synced holds 131,351 job orders and 1,260,225 slots, from 816 agencies, for 175 jobsites. These are the 5 destinations with the most slots.

Slots on DMW approved job orders by destination, 2026, source: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/approved-job-orders

Japan has about 13% of all slots and about 17% of all orders. Its orders are small on average. The 21,951 orders list 166,540 slots, about 7.6 slots per order. They carry 1,597 different position titles.

You can see every agency with Japan orders on our page of DMW agencies with job orders for Japan.

We sorted the Japan orders into groups by keywords in the position title. Scaffolding and reinforcing bar titles, for example, are in construction trades. The groups are our own grouping and only approximate. They are not a DMW category, and some titles could fit more than one group.

DMW approved job orders for Japan by job group, 2026, source: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/approved-job-orders

The 10 position titles with the most slots are:

Position titles with the most slots on DMW job orders for Japan, 2026, source: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/approved-job-orders

Three things stand out:

• Construction is spread over many small orders. The group has 6,117 orders but only about 5 slots per order.
• Dancer orders are few but large. The 444 dancer orders list 20,153 slots, about 45 per order. That one title holds about 12% of all Japan slots.
• The same job has many names. Welding appears as "welding", "welder", "welding (semi-automatic welding)" and "welder semi automatic". Care work appears as "worker care", "caregiver" and nursing care titles. Read the exact title on each order. Our post on DMW job orders for caregivers looks at caregiver titles in every country.

By year of approval, the Japan orders in our copy are:

• 2022: 1 order, 0 slots
• 2023: 819 orders, 5,031 slots
• 2024: 5,887 orders, 40,255 slots
• 2025: 8,519 orders, 67,405 slots
• 2026 up to 23 October: 6,725 orders, 53,849 slots

Do not read this as growth or decline. The public list holds mostly recent orders, so older years look smaller. And 2026 is not over.

Almost all Japan slots are in the Regular Accreditation class: 21,598 orders with 166,366 slots. The other classes in the list are In-House (184 orders, 29 slots), Open JO (164 orders, 41 slots) and No JO (5 orders, 104 slots). The list gives the class name but does not explain it, so we do not guess.

How we counted. We read the public DMW approved job orders list one agency at a time, and the weekly sync finished on 25 October 2026, Manila time. A row counts for Japan when its jobsite is Japan. Groups come from keywords in the position title. The list changes every week, so our earlier posts, read on 23 October, show slightly different totals. We name no agency and no employer in this post.

Use the list as a check, not as a job board. These numbers do not rank agencies or countries, and a high count says nothing about pay or how employers treat workers. They also do not show how many workers actually left. Before you pay anything or sign any paper:

1. Search the agency on the DMW list of licensed recruitment agencies. Read the license status and expiry date.
2. Search the same agency on the DMW approved job orders page. Check that the jobsite is Japan and that the position title matches your offer.
3. If the agency has no approved order for Japan and that position, ask it to explain. Report it to DMW if the answer is not clear.

Our guide on how to check an agency explains both searches step by step. Our pages copy the public DMW lists, so confirm on the DMW website before you act.

For services once you are in Japan, our Japan country page covers the Embassy, the Migrant Workers Office and OWWA. See also our guides to the OFW Pass and OEC in Japan, passport renewal in Japan and OWWA membership in Japan.