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| Thursday, 31 October 2013, 14:05 HKT/SGT | |
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Source: Hays | |
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TOKYO, Oct 31, 2013 - (ACN Newswire) - An ongoing shortage of high-level skills means that Japan's labour market is yet to find balanced ground, according to the Hays Global Skills Index. Can it deliver the high-skills needed, or will the shortage be a threat to economic recovery?
The Index, which assesses the efficiency of the skilled labour market in 30 countries, or its ability to supply skilled labour, found that in Japan the labour market is still not producing the right skills pipeline.
The Index scale ranges between 0 and 10, with the higher the index score the greater the difficulty for employers in findings skills. A score greater than 5 indicates skill shortages; 5 or less indicates few if any signs of skills shortages.
Japan achieved the highest score among the 30 countries included in the Index, suggesting employers have a great deal of difficulty recruiting skilled labour.
"The current economic landscape is looking a lot more positive," says Jonathan Sampson, Regional Director of Hays in Japan. "The global growth outlook is looking firmer, with Japan more upbeat.
"Yet while unemployment is expected to be around 4.1 per cent for the rest of the year, employers continue to struggle to attract highly skilled and experienced professionals.
"It is a bitter paradox caused by employers being unable to find the skilled workers they need, particularly in more technical areas such as IT and life sciences.
"So instead of a balanced labour market where employers can easily recruit, retain or replace their key talent at generally prevailing wage rates, a shortage of professionals for jobs in high-skill industries and high-skill occupations is still evident," he said.
The overall Index score is the average of seven indicator scores. Three indicators explore the supply of talent, namely education flexibility, labour market participation and labour market flexibility. One looks at talent mismatch. The final three are wage pressures indicators, looking at overall wage pressure, wage pressure in high-skill industries and wage pressure in high-skill occupations.
"Skills gaps can manifest themselves through wage pressures, a talent mismatch and/or supply," says Jonathan. "Our Index looks at all three areas.
"Of interest in Japan are the scores for talent mismatch, wage pressure, labour market participation and labour market flexibility.
"Japan's very high score of 9.1 for 'talent mismatch' indicates the numbers of both long-term unemployed and vacancies are increasing, suggesting the available labour does not have the skills employers want. This mismatch between the demand and supply for skills means employers' expectations for skills and experience are not always being met by the available candidates.
"Japan's 'overall wage pressure' score of 9.5 shows the country is expected to face wage pressures above historic norms. We expect to see growth in wages across the whole economy, after allowing for inflation.
"There is also a widening in pay differential between high and low-skill industries, as the score of 6.1 for 'wage pressure in high-skill industries' shows.
"Much like developments in industry pay, Japan is also seeing a widening gap in pay differences between high-skill and low-skill occupations, as indicated by the score of 5.9.
"'Labour market participation' measures the degree to which a country's talent pool is fully utilised. Japan's score of 5.4 shows the country could do more to ensure that working age people are employed to ensure more talent can join the workforce.
"'Labour market flexibility' assesses the legal and regulatory environment faced by businesses. In Japan, the high score of 7.1 means the labour market legislation is judged to be inflexible with constraints on the ability of inward migrants to fill talent gaps.
"This suggests legal frameworks and local attitudes are impacting the country's ability to overcome skills gaps. However Abenomics may go some way to overcoming this trend, and perhaps next year's score will see less pressure in these last two areas," he said.
According to Hays, in Japan the top five skills in most demand are:
1. Financial Planning and Analysis staff
2. IT Managers/Directors
3. Pharmaceutical Medical Affairs
4. Foreign-Registered Associate Attorneys
5. Compliance Vice Presidents
About the Hays Global Skills Index
The Hays Global Skills Index is a composite figure based on seven components. A score of 5.0 indicates a balanced picture for labour markets, a score close to 0 indicates less intense competition for vacancies, and a score close to 10 shows severe difficulty in finding skills.
The seven components making up the Hays Global Skills Index are:
1. education flexibility
2. labour market participation
3. labour market flexibility
4. talent mismatch
5. overall wage pressure
6. wage pressure in high-skill industries
7. wage pressure in high-skill occupations
The Hays Global Skills Index can be viewed at www.hays-index.com/2013
Visit our website to see our current jobs. www.hays.co.jp
Hays, the world's leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
Contact:
Keiko Asakura
Hays Japan
Marketing Manager
+81-3-3560-2813
Keiko.Asakura@hays.co.jp
Topic: Research / Industry Report
Source: Hays
Sectors: Daily News
https://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network
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