Japanese employers implementing measures to cushion impact of labour shortage
Nearly seven in 10 employers in Japan are beefing up recruitment for new graduates as labour shortages impact their organisations, according to a report.
The survey, conducted by Nikkei Research for Reuters, polled 505 companies, garnering 235 anonymous responses, between December 24 and January 10.
It found that 69% are intensifying recruitment activities for new graduates and 59% were extending retirement ages and re-hiring retired staff to mitigate labour shortage.
Among the top investments of Japanese organisations in 2025 are also capital investment (69%), as well as wage hikes and other human resources-related investments (63%), according to the Reuters poll.
The findings come as 66% of organisations said labour shortages are seriously or fairly seriously affecting their business.
In fact, nearly a third of the respondents believe that the labour shortage is worsening, while 56% said the situation is neither getting better nor worse.
A report from the Jiji Press, as cited by Xinhua, found that Japan's labour force shortage will reach 3.84 million workers by 2035.
This will be equivalent to an estimated 17.75 million hours of unfilled labour daily, according to the report, which cited data from the Persol Research and Consulting Co. and Chuo University.
It noted that while the workforce will increase to 71.22 million in 2035, with more women, elderly workers, and foreign nationals joining the labour market, the average annual working hours per person will decline by 8.8%.
According to the report, the drop in annual average working hours will be due to the implementation of work-style reforms as well as an ageing workforce.