Over 50% of those aged 60 through 74 years old in Japan over recent years have remained unemployed despite wishing to work according to a recent survey by a human resources company despite the country faces labour shortage.
It also found that around two-thirds of the companies polled are not eager to hire senior people as full-time employees, although many of them said there was no particular reason for their stance, according to Recruit Co.
The online survey conducted among 6,000 people and 600 companies in February and March this year found that 37.7% of elderly respondents wanted to be in employment, with the trend rising since 2016.
Meanwhile, 32% said they were not interested in finding work and 30.3% said they were ambivalent about doing so.
When asked about job hunting activities in the past five years, 53.7% of those seeking employment but without a job at the time of questioning said they wished to work but have been unable to find a job.
Among them, 24.0% said they were still looking for a job, 21.8% said they stopped seeking employment after an unsuccessful attempt, and 7.9% said they had just started searching for work.
The survey also showed that 11.5% had found employment, while 34.8% said they were not looking for a job.
Regarding company attitudes toward employing elderly people, 66.5% said they were “not proactive” about hiring them as full-time employees.
The most common response given was that “there is no particular reason” at 30.3%, with the second most frequent answer at 29.6% being that they have a sufficient workforce, while 23.8% cited concerns about elderly people’s health and physical strength.
In an ageing country facing a labour shortage, an official at Recruit said, “Efforts must be made so that as many elderly people as possible who wish to work can find a job.” – Kyodo News
