Japan’s workforce will shrink by almost 13m people in the next twenty years without urgent action to increase the number of working women and older workers, according to figures that lay bare the demographic challenge for business.
According to new projections by the country’s health ministry, the Japanese workforce will drop from 65.3m in 2017 to 52.5m in 2040, a fall of 22 per cent. The ministry has not produced such long-range forecasts before.
The figures highlight the huge expansion in productivity — or large-scale immigration — Japan will need if it is to sustain its output. Employment in industries such as agriculture and construction is expected to halve.