Tokyo, Nov 17 (IANS): A top Japanese industry leader on Friday urged the government to allow more entry of foreign workers to alleviate the growing shortage of labour.

The Chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Akio Mimura, said the shortage was increasingly serious and causing difficulties in the private sector, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which employ approximately 70 per cent of workers in the country, reports Efe news.

He highlighted the potential of foreign workers and called on the government to facilitate their access.

Japan has a low unemployment rate (2.8 per cent) and is affected by a low workforce supply (100 jobseekers for every 152 job offers), according to official data as of September.

Experts warn that the shortage of manpower was threatening Japan's economic growth and the sustainability of its social security system, circumstances aggravated by the country's demographic decline.

Sixty per cent of Japanese SMEs were affected by a lack of workers, forcing them to delay or cancel orders or to resort to solutions such as automating their production processes and services, according to a survey by the Chamber of Commerce.

Mimura proposed to the government the creation of a panel to study the flexibility of the national immigration regulations and other measures that facilitate the access of foreign workers to the Japanese labour market.

In 2016, the number of foreign employees surpassed one million for the first time in Japan, a figure which accounted for 0.65 per cent of the total workforce in the country, according to the Ministry of Labour, Health and Welfare.