Japan's 2020 job availability logs sharpest drop in 45 years

2.8% is still excessively low. It needs to be higher, to provide young workers with the time and opportunity to train, upgrade skills and receive certifications, making them eventually more upwardly mobile, rather than being stuck skill-less and stagnating near the bottom.

Just stop bringing unqualified foreing workers from poor countries..

The Japanese are enough for japan's work force..

The very reason Japan is pushing for AI as labor shortages will be replaced by robotics

Improve workers rights and wages

But Tamura said the deterioration of the jobless rate was not as serious as it might have been, "possibly because business operators tried to maintain their workforces as much as possible to prepare for the lifting of the (first) virus emergency, with the support of government subsidies."

I doubt any of the business operators receiving subsidies tried to maintain their workforce of contract,gig, part-time and freelance workers. The ones I know were all let go without pay and could not access unemployment benefits.

UBI time!

As dagon says, it is stupid to support businesses with lots of casual staff, bars included, with a mere assumption that the money will somehow go to the staff. Some may pay workers to stay home, but others will not.

The very reason Japan is pushing for AI as labor shortages will be replaced by robotics

Uber the taxi company has never made a profit. It would appear the ultimate aim is establish a strong market position before all the drivers can be sacked and replaced with self-driving cars. Back in 2014, there were people saying this was only a few years' off.

No worries! The Olympics will fix it! Ask Suga and Bacha!

@andy

Just stop bringing unqualified foreing workers from poor countries..

The Japanese are enough for japan's work force..

There is this new concept called Globalisation.

Heard of it mate?

This is one confusing article. I guess it's very comfortable for the government to count those furloughed employees and contract workers as people out of interest and out of the equation.

But who would have guessed right? Especially after Suga's speech in the diet.

I'll quote:

Suga stated, "There are various measures in place and, in the end, the government has the welfare system."

Later, CDP lawmaker Renho stood up and said, "That (the prime minister's) answer was beyond the pale." She then asked, "Is it not the job of the prime minister, and politics, to work to prevent people from falling into welfare?"

We all know the answer for that. The government's job is to wire billions to Dentsu. There is nothing to see here.

Just stop bringing unqualified foreing workers from poor countries..

The Japanese are enough for japan's work force..

Japan's influx of foreign workers is tiny compared to the US problem. This is what many US citizens want and what Trump was trying to do. Most developed countries give priority to their citizens.

There were 'too many' jobs for the number of candidates last year. Sounds like a fantastic solution. So long as you dont mind not working in Tokyo.

Just stop bringing unqualified foreing workers from poor countries..

The Japanese are enough for japan's work force..

the problem is the minimum wage, Japanese dont want to do factory jobs for minimum wage and no benefits, increase the minimum wage to 1500yen/hr then J workers will come back in droves

More jobs than workers,but the majority of jobs offer crap pay...

I know a company that would have made a loss last year, but had it not been for Covid 19 they made a profit ( due to their Warehouse and Office rent being heftily subsidised by the government) Looking at the company annual report just published the Directors trebled the value of dividends paid out to them for the shares they own in the company. Example of greed in its entirety at the taxpayers expense!

The Japanese are enough for Japan’s work force but don’t want to do minimum wage jobs without benefits. The Vietnamese will work for the minimum wage, or less with the benefit of working in a better economy of their own. Winner the Employer, loser the Employee!