Japan and Labor Productivity: Updated April 26, 2026.

Japan aims to up labor productivity by 15% in 5 yrs to push growth

Ideas

The idea of encouraging reskilling and pushing digitalization is nothing new in Japan as its been a talked about strategy for a long time but due to costs or due to an ingrained work culture in Japan, that is resistant to change, it still hasn't taken off.

Its common to think Japan continues to fall behind other advanced economies but some  sectors in Japan are just as competitive and productive as some in the global economy but the problem seems to be many of the tradition old-school companies are still resistant to move forward.

Again, other Prime Ministers have outlined the same labor reforms needed to boost the economy but still not much has really taken off as it seems sometimes they are just slogans or strategies that really go now where.

But lets give the new Prime Minister some room to maneuver here to see if she can get things going on labor reforms and reforms in the Japanese economy.

Its a known fact that Japan has the lowest labor producing among the most advanced economies in the world, as the long supposed work hours, too many meetings, too many paper documents needed for un-needed things along with a top-down culture that stymies creativity and innovation in Japanese companies.

It's not the fault of non-regular employees causing the low productivity problem in Japan as they just want and need a job and would prefer to be full-time workers with decent pay and decent benefits. 

Its the companies fault trying to keep their profit margins at a level that pleases their shareholders, as these days, that's all that most companies care about and they really don't care about the workers in their companies, as they have, unfortunately, become to westernized in taking care of their shareholders instead of their employee

Not to criticize or be negative but this sounds like a political campaign speech and when all is said and done, not much is really going to happen and it will just be business as usual in Japanese companies and the market place.

Yes, but to be somewhat positive there will be some changes as some progressive companies will take upon themselves to make the needed changes to increase productivity and some might even work on improving the work culture that allows a better work/life balance for their employees, especially for working women with children.

Yes, the weak yen has something to do with the increase in prices but that's not the entire story as many companies, not all companies, are either resisting change or don't feel its needed to change to be globally competitive as they are only focused on the Japanese market and not the global market.

And then there is challenge of costs needed to upgrade, re-skill employees, and move more into digitization which costs money and takes a lot of time for some companies means taking away from their core mission or business.

The Japanese government and businesses have known for a long time there is/was going to be a labor and one of the main reasons of course is the low birth rate in Japan, due to the fact that either women don't want to go through what their mothers went through or the cost of raising children in Japan is just to costly.

And another reason is the situation where if a women works for a company gets married they automatically are expected to leave the company as Japan, in the past, has not been so kind to working women and children and the need to balance child  rearing and company life.

And then there is archaic and outdated idea that once you reach a certain age you are not able to be as productive as when you were younger and or companies have not been able to adjust the pay scale, which mean giving older workers a little less in salary and keeping them on due to all their knowledge and skills but Japan, as seen in the past, is still slow to change.

Japan is wasting their human resources related to women working for companies and older workers being thrown out due the fact that companies are not able to adjust even though there is a significant labor shortage and if both of these groups were used correctly the labor shortage might to go away but will be lessened significantly.

And then there is the age old problem of immigration as Japan for whatever reason, seems to think they are a homogeneous society and bringing in too many non-Japanese for work will pollute the culture when in fact Japan is mix of Chinese, Korean, and other ethnic groups and there is no pure ethnic group anymore.

Yes, the Japanese government is trying many ways to lesson the burden on working women but the problem companies have to cooperate and in many cases they are not cooperating and maintain their traditional way of doing things in Japanese companies.

And dual income families need help as the women seems to have much of he burden, still on raising the children, and while some companies are emphatic many companies still are not and expect women to be focused on their job and not about caring for their children.

As a result some or many women don't take jobs leading to management positions that might require too much time away from the family and taking care of their children. Its a problem in Japan that has yet to be resolved to the point that working women see companies on their side and want to move into management positions if the can.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260422/p2g/00m/0na/035000c