A poll conducted by Reuters finds:
- 61% of firms say it is harder to secure sufficient workers
- 44% say labour costs may squeeze profits this financial year (most of those 44% predicting recurring profits could fall between 1 percent and 10 percent … But the remaining 56% said they did not expect any impact, with some respondents saying they were able to absorb costs as profits were growing)
- About a third plan to increase hiring in next business year
- The survey was conducted from August 4-18 by Nikkei Research for Reuters
- It polled 487 firms capitalised at more than 1 billion yen
- Responses were anonymous
- Around 270 firms answered questions on hiring
The article says labour shortages are because of an ageing society and may be a drag on growth.
There is more at the article, which will be up soon (I’ll post a link ASAP). Here it is: Japan firms hit by labour crunch, many see profits squeezed -Reuters poll
