Japan Job's Availability:

 Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230303/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's job availability ratio fell in January for the first time in over two years, as more people sought jobs with better working conditions amid an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Friday.

The job-to-applicant ratio dropped 0.01 point from the previous month to 1.35, marking the first decline since August 2020, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. The ratio means there were 135 job openings for every 100 job seekers.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in the reporting month fell 0.1 point from December to 2.4 percent, the first improvement in two months and lowest since the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, according to separate data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Ideas:

While jobs might be returning to the Japanese economy, just what kinds of jobs are available. For example Japan, like many advanced economies are transitioning to contract jobs, part-time jobs and so on to reduce costs and enhance shareholder earnings.

The jobless rate might have been 2.4 percent as that means there are still people in Japan without jobs, looking for jobs and so on.

But the be fair and economy will never be at 0 percent jobless meaning there are always going to be people without jobs, looking for jobs and so on.

Article:

The drop in the job availability ratio came as the number of people seeking work increased 0.6 percent from the previous month, while the number of jobs fell 0.1 percent.

"The employment situation is gradually picking up, although some industries have seen slow recovery in hiring," said labor minister Katsunobu Kato at a press conference.

Job offers in the information and communications sector decreased 7.3 percent from a year earlier, while those in construction firms shed 5.4 percent. But accommodation and restaurant services job offers grew 27.0 percent on the back of recovering tourism demand.

Ideas:

Some industries, such as those with logistics challenge and or parts challenges still from the pandemic might take time to fully recover with some might have labor shortage challenges from not being able to re-hire workers and or not being able to re-staff as needed due to revenue and profit challenges from the pandemic and energy challenges.

For example, the information and communications industry, globally, might have hired too many workers before and during the pandemic and now many companies, globally, are looking for ways to reduce their workforce.

The accommodation and restaurant industry might be in an opposite situation that they might not be able to hire enough workers to replace those they lost during the pandemic as maybe their salaries are not high enough for those looking for work.

As an observation, in Yokohama, it seems many or most hotels have increased their rates, either to make up for lost revenue during the pandemic and of course because of higher energy costs such as air-conditioning and heating costs have increased.

At the same time, like many industries, do their extra costs in energy reduce their ability to hire new or more workers in the future.

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"Although companies are facing a labor shortage, soaring material prices have pressured their earnings, prompting them to hold off hiring," a labor ministry official said.

Despite recent improvements in job availability, the ratio is still below the pre-pandemic level. It stood at 1.55 on average in 2019.

The unemployment rate in January fell to the level registered in February 2020 when the country's economy was not yet affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the overall situation has not fully recovered, an official at the international affairs ministry said.

Ideas:

As profit margins continue to be compromised how many companies are not able to hire the needed workers that want or need in the future.

The jobs availability list will probably never be what is was in 2019 as now there are just too many variables that might prevent the jobs list from being that good again.

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"Although we have seen improvements such as in the accommodation and hospitality sector in recent months, the extent of recovery varies by industry as the pandemic continues to have some negative impacts," the official said.

The total number of unemployed stood at a seasonally adjusted 1.67 million people in January, down 2.3 percent from the previous month, data from the internal affairs ministry showed.

Ideas:

Some industries have recovered very quickly while some might take some time to recover because of many challenges such as not able to re-hire workers, revenue challenges, logistics challenges and so on.

There is also the idea or work-life balance that wasn't a big challenge before the pandemic. But now workers are more interested in a work-life balance situation which maybe companies haven't yet fully incorporated the idea into their work culture and as such some workers might be reluctant to join a company that doesn't encourage a work-life balance situation.

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Among them, 680,000 people voluntarily left their jobs, down 2.9 percent, while 420,000 people were dismissed, up 7.7 percent.

The unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for men, down 0.1 point from the previous month, while the rate for women stayed flat at 2.2 percent.

Ideas:

Of the 680,000 people who left their jobs, was it because they were not happy with their present job. Was it because they knew they were going to be let go and so on.

Of the 420,00 who were dismissed was it it because of revenue and sales challenges or was it because of other factors.

It's been said that in Japan it's not easy to dismiss workers so what were the circumstances for the 420,000 people that were dismissed.

Have a nice day and be safe!