What do you make a criterion to decide your job when you look for?
Needless to say, you should basically put weight on the point of what you are interested in towards the job when you look for.
However, things do not always go the way you want them to. You are maybe distressed by the gap between the reality and your desire and also have a case where you can’t get your desirable job for the life of you.
Thinking realistically, if your desirable job is too competitive for you to get with maybe your insufficient ability or something, you probably cannot help compromising your decision and criterion to get a job to survive. It is not a time for you to care a bit what you should be to look for a job.
So, for those who can’t find breakthrough to find a job in Japan, I am going to research what kind of industry feels labor shortage and is positive about recruitment based on active job opening rate.
Contents
What is active job opening rate
Active job opening rate is an unique Japanese indicator to show how many of people apply for the position towards the jobs. (The job offers affected to this rate is limited to the one which you can get through public employment security office ). It is calculated simply by dividing a number of offers by applicants
For example, if there are 2000 job applications towards 1000 job offers, active job opening rate will be indicated as 0.5. In other words, if there are 1000 job applications towards 1000 job offers, its rate will be indicated as 2.0.
In this rate, if a calculated rate is more than 1, then there are more employers look for applicants than applicants look for jobs in the industry. In other words, if a calculated rate is less than 1, then there are more applicants look for jobs than employers look for applicants.
Overview of employment situation in Japan
Japan’s employment situation has been improved. The Ministry of Health、Labour and Welfare announced that the average of active job opening rates in 2017 advanced 1.50, up 0.14 points from the preceding year.
The rate has raised for 8 years in a raw and has become a high standard for the first time in 44 years since the rate (1.76) of 1973 which was the highest in the past.
Moreover, the active job opening rate in December in 2017 advanced 1.59, up 0.03from the preceding month, which has been a high standard for the first time in 43 years and 11 months on a single month basis. Mainich newspaper analysis this trend was brought by labor shortage as the population declines and a high want of new recruits among Japanese companies with the background of economic recovery.
The active job opening rate for full-time employees advanced 1.03, up 0.01 points from the preceding month. This is the highest rate since the rate of 2004.
the new job openings to applicants rate regarded as the leading indicator of employment advanced 2.36, up 0.1 points from from the the preceding month, which is the same level to the highest rate 2.36 in November in 1973 in the past.
Job offers of manufacturing industry, information and communication and industry and service industry come into prominence.
(source: General job placements by Ministry of Health、Labour and Welfare)
As you can see the above graph, after the financial crisis of 2007 to 2008, active job opening rate showed overwhelming expotential recovery from 2009 to 2016. Its rate (0.8 points) in 2009 advanced about 1.7 times as much as that (1.36 points) in 2016.
From 2016, its rate advanced gently up to 1.5 in 2017, which means 150 jobs would be provided to 100 job applicants. However the trend of the number of job applicants is in inverse proportion to the trend of active job opening rate. The picture of a decrease of job applicants against an increase of job opening rate after 2016 can be though that the number of labor population would be bigger.
(source: Labor report by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)
This is a combination chart to tell the relation between the trends of active job opening rate, employment rate and unemployment rate. If the reason that decrease of job applicants is in inverse proportion against a increase of active job opening rate is appeared in employment rate, its number should be bigger.
Employment rate is in direct proportion to the active job opening rate. In contrast, the employment rate is in inverse proportion to the unemployment rate. Labor market is successfully in the recovery. However, people don’t feel real yet on the following points of employment recovery.
- Job applicants become a job chooser
- Employers become an applicant chooser
- There is a bias in popularity of occupations
- Japanese employment is based on life time employment
Some Job applicants become a job chooser
People has their unique criteria to choose job. We have a right to choose a job. It is pretty natural to be very careful not to choose a company pushing you into harsh working situation like working in a concentration camp. People mainly pay attention to
- Social status
- Working environment
- Stability
- Career design
Any factors can’t be missed to make our lives better. No one were born to experience poverty. These 4 raising conditions are high priority for people to place importance on as far as time and living costs permit.
These 4 points are linked mutually. Social status of job is a crutial point to make your life better. For example, even if you are employed as a full time worker, if your assigned job is automatous routine task which is unskilled labor, you may be forced to work in harsh environment and face difficulty to realize your career design drawing in your mind.
Employers become an applicant chooser
In any industires in any coutries, there are few jobs which you can be hired with no experience in the industry which is related to the job you apply for except for unskilled routine job. Of course, companies will not invite a person who are not capable of making good benefit after hiring.
Considering this point, companies quite severe to judging right person to hire in. Generally, a company of western countries tends to provide chances for newbies to enter the industry in the form of internship program but Japanese companies are so exclusive against newbies who hasn’t come though regular route.
Companiese with a certain size rarely open an opportunites except for new graduates and experienced persons. Japanese society is still firmly rooted with the thought of lifetime employment and new graduates dedicate their lives to companies until compulsory retirement age. So even if you graduate from university or college, if you miss the timing to apply for a company, you might be entrapped in a doodlebug’s pit named temporary work and nothing get you out of there to step up to regular jobs.
Lately, not only big enterprize but also middle or small class companies have strong tendency to be exclusive to the person without academic background and raise its employment standard to get talented persons.
Employment situation has been improved year after year when we look at numerical data of labor market reported by the Japanese government. However, a lot of companies hold competition for highly-skilled human resources in the present circumstance of Japanese labor market so people without qualification of applying for the jobs are brought to the brink of unskilled labor job or temporary work.
Although the economy recovers gently, companies don’t ease their employment standard; no, in fact, they make it more severe and close a chance to newbies
There is a bias in popularity of occupations
Do you want to work as a waiter or a carrier even after you graduated from university or college? If you are new graduates, you will probably expect a certain level of social status to the job you apply for.
In the case that you had worked in full time position in a company for so long but you were resigned for some reasons, although you are trying very hard to look for jobs, you can’t find any full time positions in the same industry as you were involved previously, then would you compromise on your job choice and work as a building cleaner?
The hight of social status that people request to their jobs tends to be in proportion to how good educational background they have and how good working history they are proud of.
So there is big popularity gap generated between each occupations outstandingly. Especially, people avoid to choose factory job or agricultural jobs which basically need man power but is automatous routine task that people look down on.
Japanese employment is based on life time employment
Internship program that Japanese companies provide is quite limited and completely different from the one in the western countries. Japanese Internship program carries a strong sense of a work trial for interns to know their inclinations against the task in the industry
There are few Japanese companies that places internship program as one of the hiring process. This program opens quite limited chance, which is mostly the privilege for university or college students to do work trial for one of industry research to create footholds for entering a company
Ratio of full time position and temporary position
This is combination chart of full time work and temporary work. The numbers appered in line chart is a rate deviding the number of full time workers and temporary workers by whole employment respectively.
When we see the ratio in 2004, it is about 7 (full time) : 3 (temporary). This ratio is gently is in inverse proportion mutually. The more full time workers reduce, the more temporary workers increase.
According to the survey of 2014 reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the ratio of temporary workers who can’t find opportunites to work as a full time worker is 18%. According to the statistics classified by age group, people who belong to age group between 25 years old to 34 years old are the highest percentage in the category of temporary employment group.
The 40 percent of the fresh employees belong to temporary position and this is one of the factor that the ratio of new graduates who change job for a couple of years after being hired has increased. According to Employment Status Survey of 2012, people who get promoted to full time position from temporary position over the past 5 years are only 24% of whole employment.
Temporary workers’ average revenue is 60% of full time worker. Generally, temporary position is unstable and low salary, moreover lack of opportunity for ability development
and are provided with insufficient application of safety net like employment insurance and health insurance.
Especially, low salary is in danger of expanding working poor class and this will link to the case where people give up their marriage and birth because of low salary. Male temporary workers in the age group of 20s and 30s, who have spouse is less than half of full time workers.
Job opening rate by occupations
This is active job opening rate by occupations. Public security-related job push up the whole active job opening rate. Turnover rate is not in proportion to active job opening rate so the number of job offers is not directly related to turnover rate.
Each industries’ working environment is not capable of taking survey. This is indescribable thing but one thing you can realize from job opening rate ranking is that the occupations ranked in higher position has strong color of physical task.
Ranking of active job opening rate by occupations in 2017
Industry Type | Average annual job opening rate | Turnover rate (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Public security, national defense | 9.00 | ? |
2 | Construction and mining | 5.24 | 9.5 |
3 | Service | 4.43 | 28.6 |
4 | Sales | 3,03 | 15.0 |
5 | Engineering | 3.02 | 11.1 |
6 | Managing position | 2.93 | ? |
7 | Production process | 2.28 | 10.5 |
8 | Agriculture, forestry and fishery | 2.09 | ? |
9 | Cleaning and packaging | 1.33 | 12.0 |
This is example of applicable jobs in each occupational category.
Basically active job opening rate is not in proportion to hiring standards difficulty. If you apply for the job because its job opening rate is pretty high, you don’t necessarily pass the screening of employment smoothly.
There is a case where a employer post a lot of job offers endlessly until he/she finds an applicant matching his/her ideal employment standard. The number of job offers has nothing to do with easiness to be employed.
Industry type | occupations type |
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Public security, national defense |
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Construction and mining |
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Service |
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Sales |
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Engineering |
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Transport and machinery operation |
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Managing position |
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Production process |
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Agriculture, forestry and fishery |
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Cleaning and packaging |
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Office work |
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Construction and mining
Both employees and employers are shrinking in construction industry. Especially, the number of employees has reduced to 90,000, which is the highest reduction number in entire industries
After May in 2017 when recorded 4.86 points of job opening rate, with continuous exponential sharp increase of job opening rate, it finally reached 6.38 points in November 2017.
Construction industry is very lively with the background of a constructing boom to aim for Tokyo Olympic games. Although job offers for construction engineer has been increasing, applicants who desire to enter a construction industry tend to reduce according to the report by public employment security office.
Conclusion
It can be hardly realistic that foreigners can get position which is involved with national security so the first category is automatically removed from your options.
The top 3 occupational caterogy in the ranking is the industry which human resorces are one of the primary capital of a company. The industry that produces value withs man power require workers sustanable physical strength and hard working lifestyle.
Especially you are legally in a weak position to be easily taken advantage of by a company, you will receive the same treatment as forced labor slave bought by Japanese employer. Technical interns from the developing countries are really bad example for people who want to work in Japan.
If you want to receive legitimate treatment as indepedent respectable position, it is desirable for you to have enough skills to give a advice to the company’s board member. You are at least in position to be able to exercise influence to some decisions of a company.
The companies that belong to either construction and service industry always need people to hire in but it prioritizes making profit and increase internal reserves and to look down on the salary for workers. Exploiting employees who are socially weak has become social issue in Japan.
No mather how high the active job opening rate the industry you are interested in have, you should keep polishing your skill to get promoted to respectable position if you want to spend human life.