Survey: Half of Unemployed Seniors in Japan Want to Work
More than half of Japan's senior citizens would like to work but can't find a job, according to a 2023 survey.
The survey, by a company called Recruit, found that among those aged between 60 and 74 who wanted to find work over the last five years, nearly 54% were not able to.
Recruit looked at survey data from 6,000 people and 600 companies.
About two in three companies said they were not keen to hire older members of staff, although many did not give a reason for this.
Japan is facing a labor shortage — it's thought that the country could be short of 11 million workers by 2040.
One way of filling those positions could be with workers who have retired, or who are close to retirement age and not working.
Almost 38% of these older citizens said they wanted to work — and this number has been increasing since 2016.
Although about a third of companies said there was "no particular reason" why they did not hire older workers, around 24% said they worried about their health and strength.
But these results might be surprising for some.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, in 2022 nearly 40% of businesses let employees work until 70 — and even older.
Other companies have raised their retirement age to let workers stay longer.
Nikkei Asia reported that one of those companies — Nojima — has about 30 workers over the age of 70, including three who are over 80.
Yutaka Tajima, from Nojima, said that at a time when people can live until 100, there is no need for companies to ask people to stop working based on their age.
