The Inside Job

Unemployed Japanese Workers Try Farming

By Liz Wolgemuth

Posted: April 17, 2009

Japan's unemployment rate is at a three-year high of 4.4 percent--still seems delightful compared with the U.S.'s unemployment rate of 8.5 percent--but it's trouble enough for Prime Minister Taro Aso to introduce a stimulus plan meant to preserve and create jobs.

Already, younger workers in need of jobs are being sent to work in the nation's farmland through the Rural Labor Squad program. The NYTimes reports: "In a play on words, the squad’s name in Japanese — Inaka-de-hatarakitai — is also its rallying cry: 'We want to work in the countryside!'"

The recession has provided an opportunity to mitigate the country's agricultural worker shortage for now, but agricultural jobs in Japan seem to face the same issues they do here, however: The pay can be poor and the work seasonal.

Still, bringing young urbanites to the country is a good thing. Japan's population is aging so quickly, particularly in rural areas, that some schools can't be filled, Bloomberg reports.

Yes, there is a worker shortage.

Susanne has never been here. There is a shortage of native Japanese workers in almost every corner of the job market. The 4.4% unemployment figure does not include foreign workers. The truth is, some prefecture governments are paying to ship foreign labors back to their home country because the auto parts factories have cut production by over 50% and the "gaijin" are the first to get laid off.

Wu @ May 11, 2009 22:23:31 PM

Getting out of the farm.

Responding to the first comment. You oviously do not understand the situation in Japan. The population is aging, and shrinking at the same time. There are towns in northern Japan that do not have children. It is not a matter of pay, but population. People want to live in the cities, not in the rural farms where their families have grown for many generations.

MN of VA @ Apr 20, 2009 07:08:11 AM

Worker Shortage? Yea. Right!

When you use the phrase "labor shortage" or "talent shortage" you're speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually have to say is: "There is a labor shortage at the salary level I'm willing to pay." That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence, the intellectually honest statement.

If you start raising your wages and improving working conditions, and continue to do so, eventually you'll have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.

Re: Shortage due to retirees: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, people entering retirement age are being forced to work well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.

If your job requires training and/or certification, again, raise your wages and improve benefits! You’ll incentivize people to self-fund their education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to fund their own education.

Suzanne G of NY @ Apr 19, 2009 11:25:20 AM

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The Inside Job

You're taking a break from your job-hunting and job-hopping ways and have decided to stay put in your current position. Liz Wolgemuth’s careers blog will show you how to make the very best of your job, each day.

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