The Japan office of Michael Page, headquartered in London has released their 2016 edition of their annual Salary and Employment Outlook.
Summary (Source: Michael Page Japan Salary Survey 2016 edition)
2016: Japan hiring activity stable, high demand for talent in some areas
- The retail, consumer goods, and the travel/tourism industries have maintained a high level of hiring throughout 2015, due to the increase of inbound tourists from the weaker yen and low cost airline carriers.
- IT professionals with a focus on cloud, Internet, and information security have been in high demand, which is expected to continue in 2016.
- Hiring of temporary and contract employees is stable across all industries, and will remain active.
Outlook
The employment market of Japan has been stable for the last 12 months.Basil Le Roux, Managing Director of Michael Page Japan, says: "There has been demand for new employees across all industries and sectors. We would anticipate continued demand in the next 12 months in particular retail, consumer goods, IT, pharmaceutical, health care, and life sciences."
Hiring has been active in the retail and consumer goods industry due to inbound tourism consumption from the depreciation of the yen and low cost airline carriers. In the luxury sector, there has been demand for retail staff that can service Chinese and Asian tourists.
The travel and tourism industry has begun to see an increase in hiring activity in anticipation of the new hotels that are being built in preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The sports and outdoor goods sector has also seen a growth in sales and are hiring actively.
In the IT industry, there has been very high demand for security roles as cloud technology becomes more common. There is more emphasis on strengthening the security of internal and customer data due to increasing consumer awareness, privacy issues, and government regulation. Such positions experienced the biggest salary raises due to intense competition amongst employers.
Despite uncertainty in Japan’s economy, hiring activity in healthcare industries will continue to rise with the well-known factor of Japan’s aging population and rising healthcare spending per capita. The service to pharmaceutical industry is growing, and manufacturers are investing more in outsourced service providers because of increasing quality and lower costs.
Hiring of temporary staff and contract staff has been stable in all industries. As companies are reluctant to increase labour costs, the hourly rate is similar to that of the previous year. For niche positions such as IT and positions without many candidates, the rate has increased slightly. The revised Worker Dispatch Law would pave the way for temporary employees to be hired permanently, but for the time being it would not affect the hiring of temporary staff.