Over 50% of those aged 60 through 74 years in Japan over recent years have remained unemployed despite wishing to be in work as the country faces a labour shortage, reports Kyodo News, citing a recent survey by Recruit Co. It also found that around two-thirds of the companies polled are not eager to hire senior people as full-time employees, although many of them said there was no particular reason for their stance. The online survey of 6,000 people and 600 companies conducted in February and March this year found that 37.7% of elderly respondents wanted to be in employment, with the trend rising since 2016.

Meanwhile, 32.0% said they were not interested in finding work and 30.3% said they were ambivalent about doing so. When asked about job seeking activities in the past five years, 53.7% of those seeking employment but without a job at the time of questioning said they wished to work but have been unable to find a job. Among them, 24.0% said they were still looking for a job, 21.8% said they stopped seeking employment after an unsuccessful attempt, and 7.9% said they had just started searching for work.

The survey also showed that 11.5% had found employment, while 34.8% said they were not looking for a job. Regarding company attitudes toward employing elderly people, 66.5% said they were ‘not proactive’ about hiring them as full-time employees.

The most common response given was that ‘there is no particular reason’ at 30.3%, with the second most frequent answer at 29.6% being that they have a sufficient workforce, while 23.8% cited concerns about elderly people's health and physical strength.