Middle-aged and older - people over the age of 50 are rapidly changing jobs due to the serious labor shortage

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

50歳以上の中高年の転職が急増 人手不足の深刻化など背景に

2022年12月30日 6時23分

50歳以上の中高年の転職がここ数年で急増しているという調査結果を人材サービス大手がまとめました。企業の間で人手不足が深刻になる中、年齢にかかわらず、経験や能力を評価して採用する動きが広がっています。

リクルートによりますと、昨年度（2021年度）1年間に、この会社のサービスを通じて転職を決めた50歳から64歳までの人は、2017年度と比べて5.6倍になったということです。

▽人手不足が深刻化していることに加え、

▽企業が多様な人材を確保しようとする中で、

年齢にかかわらず、経験や能力を評価する動きが背景にあるとしています。

業界別で見た転職先は、

▽「総合電機・半導体・電子部品」が21.8％と最も多く、

次いで

▽「情報通信」の13.1％、

▽「建設・不動産」の11.8％となっています。

また、職種は同じでも異なる業種に転職した人の数が、昨年度は2017年度の8.3倍となり、専門性を生かしながら新しい分野に挑戦したいという求職者が増えていることがうかがえます。

リクルートの藤井薫HR統括編集長は「日本全体で40代以下の労働者が減少し、次の世代のリーダーや管理職がいないと悩む企業が増えている。また、ビジネスモデルを変えようと新たな人材を採る動きもあり、年齢にかかわらずスキルを評価して採用する動きが進んでいる」と話しています。

Translation

A major human resources service company had compiled the results of a survey that showed that the number of job changes among middle-aged and older people over the age of 50 had increased rapidly in the past few years. As labor shortages became more serious among companies, there was a growing movement to evaluate and hire people based on their experience and abilities, regardless of age.

According to Recruit, the number of people between the ages of 50 and 64 who decided to change jobs through this company's services last year (FY2021) increased 5.6 times compared to FY2017.

▽ In addition to the serious labor shortage,

▽ As companies tried to secure diverse human resources,

The underlying reason was that there was a movement to evaluate based on experience and ability regardless of age.

Looking at job changes by industry,

▽ "General electrical machinery/semiconductors/electronic parts" at 21.8% accounted for the largest percentage

then

▽ “Information and communication” at 13.1%;

▽ "Construction / real estate" at11.8%

In addition, the number of people who were in the same job type but different industry changed jobs last year was 8.3 times higher than in 2017. It could be seen that the number of job seekers who wanted to challenge new fields while making use of their expertise was increasing.

Recruit's HR editor-in-chief, Kaoru Fujii (藤井薫) said, "All over Japan, the number of workers under the age of 40 is declining, and more and more companies are suffering from the lack of next-generation leaders and managers. There is also a movement to hire fresh people to change the business model, and a movement is in progress to hire them by evaluating skills regardless of age."

              So, labor shortage problem in Japan is becoming more serious among companies. Yet many experts have predicted that a global recession is on the way. I am wondering why.