28% of Japanese companies seek to hire more employees

This was a finding by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, which conducted a survey that also showed that 63.5% of companies intend to keep employee numbers unchanged, while the remaining 8.5% of companies expect their staff strength to drop.

By sector, 48.1% in the telecommunications sector expect their workforce to expand. In the restaurant and hotel industry, 40.2% also said they intend to hire more employees. However, 12.9% of retailers and 12.1% of transportation companies expect the number of their staff to fall.

Many companies are facing a labour shortage but the employment outlook remains uncertain amid concern about a resurgence of coronavirus infections, said a researcher at the institute.

About 3,700 companies responded to the survey, which sought to measure the impact of the pandemic. The survey was conducted in June, according to NHK.

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Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications Japan’s showed that the labour force participation rate fell to 62.40% in August from 62.50% month-on-month. In August, the number of employed persons in the country was about 68.66 million, according to the Japan Statistics Bureau.