By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO, Reuters – Japan’s COVID-19 epidemic has helped relieve years of labor shortages. Japan’s information technology (IT), and nursing homes have seen unexpected growth. Workers are now looking for other careers after job losses at hotels and restaurants.

The newfound mobility in job opportunities marks a change in a country where rigid labour practices have been partly blamed for the long-term decline in productivity.

However, it’s too early to predict if this will result in higher wages. Higher wages are crucial to revive growth and demand in an economy struggling to recover from decades of deflation.

The job-hoppers are likely to choose one lower-paying profession over another.

Toshiki Kurimata used to earn 2.8m yen ($25,000 a year) as a masseur. But he left after twelve years because of the sharp decline in his customers. He is now a nurse’s assistant and taking courses to be a caregiver.

The qualification will allow him to expect to earn around 3 million yen, an approximately 18% increase. His biggest draw is the stability of his job, he said.

Kurimata expressed that “I enjoy working in nursing care because it’s stable.” There are no age restrictions on work. You can still find work, even if you’re inexperienced like me.

Experts don’t know if the trend of job switching will continue to be a limited phenomenon or if it will spread more widely.

However, it’s not certain if people will switch jobs once the pandemic has passed. Anecdotal evidence indicates that they will still be leaving food-service jobs to go into nursing or IT.

Japan anticipates a shortage in 690,000. This is a difficult gap given Japan’s rapidly growing population.

LESS INCOME

OECD data shows that Japan’s labor productivity per hour is $47.9. This compares to the US’s level of 60%. Japan was the least developed of the Group of Seven countries (G7) and the 21st largest.

Among the 37 OECD member countries as at 2019.

Fumio Kirishida has promised more wealth for households through higher wages, despite the possibility of low-income workers.

Hisashi Yamada (senior economist, Japan Research Institute) stated that COVID-19 fallsouts push low-paid workers into harder positions with little or no increase in their pay.

According to labour ministry data, 3.9 million people have been laid off by hospitality businesses, down from 4.2 million the previous year.

However, 8.6 Million employees were hired in the medical and dental industry, an increase of 200,000. In comparison, the IT industry hired 2.4 Million employees. This is an increase of 100,000 over 2019.

JOB TRAINING

Vocational training institutions have been a big winner.

SAMURAI offers IT training. As of April 20, 2021, there were 1.7x more students than a year ago. This is because employees who retrenched after the pandemic had fled to retrain.

The majority of IT jobs available to inexperienced workers, however, are programmers on the lowest level. They generally pay less than hospitality.

According to government data, the average salary of employees in restaurants and nursing homes is 3 million yen. This 30% lower than that of average Japanese workers. The national average is close to what IT programmers make.

Koki Shimizu (22-year-old student at SAMURAI) said, “I saw the IT industry was very popular and I thought that maybe I could land a steady job.” He lost his job as chef and is now learning how to program.

The classes at Crie which offer nursing training are full.

Takayuki Nagayama, the company head, expects that the upward trend will continue due to steady job opportunities in the nursing industry.

The truth is that wages are very low in the nursing industry. Many job seekers want stability, after witnessing the destruction done to restaurants and other service-sector businesses.

The loss of staff is also alarming retailers. They are hoping for a rebound as Japan eases COVID-19 restrictions.

Watami, the Japanese major pub chain operator is looking to hire 100 middle-career employees this year. This was something that it has not done in three years.

Miki Watanabe, chief executive of the company said that although 1,000 yen an hour might not be sufficient to lure workers into the future, 1,500 may be necessary.

Firms are hesitant to raise their pay because the economy continues to struggle in the aftermath of the pandemic.

($1 = 114.0100 yen)