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© KYODOJapan bankruptcies top 10,000 in 2024 on labor shortage, weak yen
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David Brent
There isn’t a labor shortage in Japan.
sakurasuki
Japanese media just reluctant to mention that those business just can't afford labor with proper market price.
Simon Foston
Well. Isn't that a surprise.
David BrentToday 07:56 am JST
Indeed not. People just don't want to work for crappy small businesses that don't want to provide decent working conditions and wages.
grc
David Brent - agreed
JeffLee
How many were "black companies"? For those, we should cheer their demise.
Geeter Mckluskie
Survival of the fittest.
There are 125 million people in Japan. There is no shortage of workers, only a shortage of foresight as well as financial and business management.
DanteKH
Agreed with the posters above.
Those companies only provide minimum wage mostly, so naturally the locals are not accepting anymore to be slaves for mearly 6$/H (!!). No wonder that sites such OnlyFans or VideoChat exploded in recent years, girls especially are no longer interested in konbini or izakaya part time crappy jobs, when they can earn at least x10 times on line.
Geeter Mckluskie
When those girls become mothers they may wish they had worked at a convenience store or izakaya, especially when their kids are confronted with photos of their mothers from bullies or even friends.
Hervé L'Eisa
Abenomics (MMT) doing as predicted by classical economists.
Glen McAlevey
So many downvotes for the above comments that are correct.
The only legitimate reason a company cannot raise wages to attract staff is if they are in some kind of bad fixed price deal as a supplier/subcontractor to another firm and even that is simply bad foresight and lack of negotiating ability.
kurisupisu
Even the tourism industry which is booming doesn’t offer
staff full employment.The check-in clerks are lucky to be on 1000 yen an hour without insurance or welfare packages.
towingtheline
There isn’t a labor shortage. But... There is a massive shortage of jobs that pay enough for people to live on... That's why you can't get Watanabe-san to work for you. Who wants to earn 850 per hour in 2025? It should be 1,500 per hour as a minimum.
Geeter Mckluskie
Those companies have no business being in business so it's a good thing when they go out of business
kohakuebisu
My concern would be how many were trades firms, builders, plumbers, etc. who've gone bust leaving workers and suppliers unpaid.
Joey Zen
It's true that the pay is very low in Japan. I was getting 960yen/hr and that's even after the PM announced a minimum wage of 1020yen/hr. Even so, I lived a relatively good life, ate amazing food, had everything I needed, although I didn't have anything leftover to save each month.
If the wages go up, so does the price of goods. For example, the reason ramenyas can sell ramen for 1000 yen or less is because of low wages. If wages go up, ramen price has to go up. One of the best things about Japan is cheap and good food. When I go overseas I don't feel like it's worth the price to pay for example $25 for a cheeseburger. In Australia, I paid $36 for a chicken schnitzel at a pub. $12 for a beer! That's around 4500yen. I was thinking I could have got all-you-can-eat Yakiniku in Japan for that kind of money and still have some leftover money.
It's a conundrum. Raise the wages, prices go up, manufacturers and farmers will be less competitive, pensioners will be poorer, Japan becomes more like Western countries who are suffering from high inflation. On the other hand, if the Japanese yen becomes stronger, imports become more affordable and more Japanese will be willing to travel overseas. I don't know what the solution is, but I just hope there will always be cheap good food in Japan.
darmon
Japan's economy is facing a problem because it doesn't accept many foreign workers, unlike other developed countries. Many countries have allowed immigrants to help grow their economies, but Japan has been slow to do so. As Japan's population gets older and fewer children are born, there aren't enough workers to fill jobs in areas like healthcare and factories. Without more foreign workers, Japan may have trouble keeping its economy strong in the future.
Geeter Mckluskie
The issue with importing foreign labour to solve the ageing demographic issue is that all forecast point to 50% of current jobs being rendered obsolete within the next 20 years or less. So, along with the ageing population you would have a huge increase in unemployed people to care for as well exacerbating the strain on the public coffers. Immigration is a short-sighted solution that would end up being a long-term problem. Japan needs to focus on an economy that doesn't rely on unsustainable population growth. It needs to downsize and it needs to focus on how to best achieve that. It's currently building a digital infrastructure that would provide 5G service to 99% of households by 2030. It needs to focus on its digital economy as well as agricultural sciences. Japan is less than 40% in terms of food self-sufficiency. Fewer, not more people are needed in Japan.
リッチ
Just bad business with old ideas and systems that can’t compete. It’s almost all of Japan. It’s shocking how low tech Japan is.
asdfghjkl
So I thought tourism is meant to help the economy. Sounds like it’s screwing a lot of people up with increasing prices etc.
Geeter Mckluskie
Japan is focused on building its digital infrastructure as it adjust to the new digital economy...one that doesn't rely on unsustainable population growth (in a nation that is currently @ 35% self-sufficient in terms of feeding itself).
https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/01/vision_for_a_digital_garden_city_nation.html