近年，日本に滞在する外国人及び外国人労働者の数はともに増加傾向にあり，毎年過去最高を更新しているが，これは，留学生や技能実習生などの若い外国人の流入が主因である．全国の傾向と同様，広島県と同県福山市においても外国人及び外国人労働者の数が増加しつつある．このような中，外国人受け入れに積極的で多文化共生社会の実現を目指すとする福山市における外国人労働者の実態，役割と課題を把握するための調査を2017年度実施した．
結論として，役割と課題をそれぞれ３点ずつ指摘した．まず，役割としては，第１に，外国人労働者は海外との取引などグローバルな展開に中心的な貢献をしていること，第２に，彼らは総じて向上心が高く野心的であることから日本人従業員に刺激を与えモーティベーションを引き上げていること，第３に，彼らは元来国際的で多言語・多文化能力を持つため日本人従業員の国際感覚・多文化能力の向上に貢献し，社内にグローバルな雰囲気を作り出していること，である．課題としては，第１に，業種や企業により外国人労働者に関するニーズや対応は様々であるが，特に製造業で少子化高齢化や日本人（特に若手）が集めにくいことにより人手不足が深刻であること，第２に，外国人労働者の雇用が主に短期であるため費用対効果が低く，長期的な人材育成計画が作りにくいこと，第３に，外国人労働者の採用面や生活支援面において行政支援，環境整備への期待が高いこと，である．これらを踏まえ，外国人労働者は労働者であると同時に生活者であることも考慮し，外国人が働きたくなる福山市にするため，また，多文化共生のまちづくりを推進するための提言を行った．

There is an upward trend in the numbers of both foreign residents and foreign workers (part of foreign residents) in Japan, reaching the highest numbers in the last five years. This phenomenon is mainly due to the influx of young foreigners such as students and technical trainees. Along with this national trend, the numbers of both foreign residents and foreign workers have been on the rise in Hiroshima Prefecture and in Fukuyama City as well. In this context, a survey was conducted in 2017 to investigate the conditions, roles and challenges of foreign workers in Fukuyama City, which is proactively welcoming foreign residents and foreign workers in an effort to achieve a “multicultural symbiotic society” in the future.
As conclusions, three roles and three challenges were uncovered. In regard to the roles of foreign residents and foreign workers, first, they play a central part in global deployment such as transactions with overseas countries. Second,
most of them have high career motivations and ambitions, which encourages Japanese colleagues to increase their motivations. Third, they have essential international traits such as multilinguistic and multicultural skills, which contributes to the increase of international awareness and multicultural skills among Japanese colleagues, thus creating a global environment in the workplace.
For their challenges, first, the needs of foreign workers and the responses to them are diverse among different business sectors and firms. There is an acute labor shortage in the manufacturing sector because of lower birth rates,
ageing and the lack of interest among young Japanese people. Second, the average employment duration of foreign workers is rather short resulting in low cost effectiveness, which makes it difficult for firms to formulate a long-term
human resource development plan. Third, there are high expectations towards stronger public support for the hiring of foreigners and their livelihood. Based on these conclusions, some proposals were made to make Fukuyama City more
attractive to foreign workers and to facilitate the process towards a “multicultural symbiotic society”, taking into account that they are also due members of society.