Japan Faces Urgent Workforce Shortage: Millions Needed by 2035
- Japan is projected to have a labor shortage of 17.75 million hours per day by 2035, which is equivalent to 3.84 million people. The service, wholesale and retail trade, and medical and welfare industries are expected to face the most severe shortages. Quoted from chuo-u.ac.jpJapan's unemployment rate has been low over the past 15 years. In the first quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate was 2.6%, which is below the OECD unemployment rate of 5%.
- To address this, Japan has been seriously acquiring foreign workers after pandemic Covid-19. The number of foreign workers in Japan is expected to increase from 2.05 million in 2023 to 3.05 million in 2030 and 3.77 million in 2035.The number of annual working hours per employed person is expected to decrease from 1,850 hours in 2023 to 1,776 hours in 2030 and 1,687 hours in 2035. This will lead to productivity issue in term of total employments against productive hours. The labor force rate is expected to increase, especially for women in their 60s. Only 6% of Japanese workers are engaged, which is among the lowest in the world. quoted from HR.ASIA.
- Indonesia has target to raise more than double to send workers to Japan for five years for specified skilled workers (SSW) visa program. It's estimated to reach approximately 250,000 workers in five years, by 2030.Here is the approximate estimate of jobs to address acute labor shortages:
- Caregiving (60,000 workers needed)
- Building Cleaning Management (37,000)
- Industrial Machinery (5,250)
- Electric/Electronics and Information Industries (4,700)
- Construction Industry (40,000)
- Shipbuilding/Ship Machinery (13,000)
- Automobile Repair and Maintenance (7,000)
- Accommodation and Hospitality (22,000)
- Agriculture (36,500)
- Fishery & Aquaculture (9,000)
- Food and Beverage Manufacturing (34,000)
- Food Service Industry (53,000)
- Aviation (2,200)
