The number of Japanese workers who saw an increase in their wages after switching jobs has reached its highest level at 33.4%, according to a study by Recruit Japan.

The Wage Fluctuation Report measures the employee salaries before and after changing jobs, and particularly focuses on those who received at least a 10% hike in their salaries after leaving their jobs for another.

Salaries dipped in the first quarter of 2020 down to 26.4% as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, but according to Recruit, by the first quarter of 2021, salary fluctuation returned to normal levels of around 31.5%. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of employees seeing a wage hike of 10% of more after switching jobs reached 33.4%, the highest it’s been since Recruit began recording data in 2002.

By industry, employees in IT and engineering saw the most wage hikes when changing jobs at 39.7%. Customer service and call centres were a close second at 38.6%. Sales positions was at 32.3%, followed by clerical jobs at 31.4%, and finally mechanical/electrical/chemical engineers at 28.9%.

Customer service, clerical, and IT and engineering recorded record highs since Recruit started aggregating data by occupation in 2008. Meanwhile, mechanical/electrical/chemical engineering jobs saw the largest growth of 3.7% year-over-year.