Recession-hit Japan on Wednesday started offering cash to jobless migrants of Japanese descent, mostly from Brazil and Peru, who are willing to go home amid the global downturn.
Japan, faced with a shrinking and ageing workforce, from the 1990s allowed tens of thousands of migrants to work in the country, mostly on temporary contracts in car manufacturing and other industries.
But as the global downturn has halved exports and idled plants, Japan's manufacturing giants have axed thousands of jobs, bloating the ranks of unemployed to a three-year high of 4.4 per cent in February.
The government Tuesday estimated that more than 192,000 non-regular workers had been laid off or will have lost their jobs between October last year and June amid what is shaping up as Japan's worst post-war recession.
The labour ministry said it had started to offer Y300,000 ($A4,370), to each migrant worker of Japanese descent who agrees to go home, plus Y200,000 ($A2,900) for each dependent family member.
Those who receive employment insurance money will get an extra payment.
Migrants who take the money and agree to return lose the right to come back to Japan on special work visas in future, the ministry said.
"They may not get a job immediately even after going back to their country," the ministry official told AFP. "The money should cover costs for a flight ticket, moving and for some time to live off."
For many of those hoping to stay, the government has allocated more than Y1 billion ($A14.57 million) for vocational training including Japanese language lessons.
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