Job hopping declines in Japan despite stagnant wages

This was according to Japan’s labour ministry, which said this reflects the sluggish labour market amid the prolonged pandemic.   

The ministry’s 2022 white paper on labour economy said job changes were needed to tackle the serious labour shortages in sectors such as information technology, elderly care, and welfare, according to Jiji Press.   

In other developments, a survey has shown that 63% of corporate executives in Japan said wage increases are difficult without company growth. This figure is considerably higher than the 6.4% who claimed that wage increases are necessary for company growth.

In addition, 38% of executives said wage increases are an “investment,” while 18% see wage increases as “cost increases”, according to the survey by Persol Holdings. The survey also found that the percentage of staff whose wages have increased from last year to this year is higher for regular employees than for non-regular employees. 

When asked how their wages changed compared to the previous year, those who did not change their place of work or employment status, the largest number of respondents who answered “increase” were regular employees (44.6%). 

Regular employees were more likely to have their wages increased compared to non-regular employees such as part-time workers (33.5%), temporary employees (27.8%), and contract/fixed-term employees (30.3%).

READ: Workers in Japan continue to choose part-time employment

In terms of wage satisfaction, for regular employees, 37.4% were satisfied while 37.0% were dissatisfied. For part-time workers, 35.0% were satisfied and 35.7% were dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction also outweighs satisfaction among temporary employees (46.6% dissatisfied vs 24.9% satisfied) and contract/temporary employees (50.4% dissatisfied vs 25.9% satisfied).