A Statistical Comparison of Human Resource Supply from Nursing Education between Indonesia and Japan: with a Special Reference to the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement

Abstract

Since 2008, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the Indonesian and Japanese governments has allowed Indonesian nurses to work abroad in Japan due to the severe shortage of medical professionals in Japan. After more than a decade, the Indonesians have become indispensable workforce in the industry, and their contribution to Japan has been greater than ever. This research examines and evaluates the human resource supply from nursing education in Indonesia, as well as the sustainability of Japan's healthcare industry, employing the quantitative analysis on demographic statistical data of ratio of nurses per population of 100,000 in Japanese prefectures and Indonesian provinces. The statistical comparison between the nations reveals that Indonesia's population growth and the oversupply of nursing majors was able to complement the shortages in Japan. However, the sufficiency gap of nurses between the urban areas and the remote provinces in Indonesia is much wider than in Japan. It suggests that as a domestic issue, Indonesia needs to improve the gap among provinces. Now, many researches have been conducted on the EPA itself, but we have examined not only each side of the implications, but also the contributions between the two countries, including the regional development gaps.