45% of companies face full-time worker shortage

August 25, 2017

TOKYO- A record 45.4 percent of Japanese companies face a shortage of full-time employees, a Teikoku Databank Ltd. survey showed Thursday.

The figure is the highest since the private credit research firm started the survey in May 2006 and up 7.5 percentage points from the July 2016 poll.

By industrial sector, information service, including software-developing companies, topped the list, with 69.7 percent of the firms in the sector answering that they lacked full-time employees, up 9.7 points. Home electronics and information equipment retail followed with 61.5 percent, down 3.5 points, broadcasting also with 61.5 percent, down 15.4 points, and transportation and warehouse with 60.9 percent, up 12.8 points.

The full-time worker shortage has begun affecting development of new products and services, forcing some firms to go bankrupt, Teikoku Databank pointed out.

"It's important for companies to change ways employees work and create a worker-friendly environment in which age and sex don't matter," it said.

The July 18-31 survey covered 23,767 companies and received valid responses from 42.5 percent of them. Jiji Press