How to solve the problem of "labor shortage" due to the depreciation of the yen? , more young people in Japan choose to "gold dig" overseas, including | one | depreciation

Right now, the yen-to-dollar exchange rate is hovering around 157, once again approaching historical lows.

In the past, the prosperity of Japan's economy and stock market relied largely on the weakness of the yen, but this year's sharp depreciation of the yen has intensified the negative effects on the country.

Some observations have pointed out that the cascading effect caused by the weak yen has led to more brain drain in Japan, creating a more serious "labor shortage" situation for society.

There is a voice from the outside world: The depreciation of the yen is no longer good news for Japan.

Last month, a recruitment company that transports talents to Japan gave a speech to students in Shanghai and introduced a Tokyo company with an annual income of 3 million yen. At this time, a student asked a pointed question: Is it possible to live in Tokyo with such a salary?

As more information was put in front of students, the company's president, Masato Mihira, found that students were becoming increasingly disillusioned.

"The depreciation of the yen has dealt a fatal blow to us," Sanpei said. "This has prevented us from recruiting outstanding students from countries such as China and South Korea."

It is said that salary is the best "baton" for talent mobility. However, the latest data released by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare show that after taking into account price changes, Japan's real wages fell by 2.5% year-on-year in March this year. They have fallen for 24 consecutive months, the longest consecutive decline since 1991.

The previous longest consecutive decline was 23 months from September 2007 to July 2009, during which the Lehman crisis also occurred. The difference between this time and last time is that last time the nominal wage fell, this time the nominal wage rose, but it was unable to catch up with the increase in prices.

Compared with other developed countries, wages in Japan have always been relatively low. According to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Japan's average salary ranks 25th among 38 developed countries. After the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s, Japanese wages have remained stagnant for 30 years, placing Japan behind countries such as Slovenia and Lithuania.

Observers point out that as the yen depreciates, local wages in Japan are getting worse and worse, making it difficult for companies to recruit, especially highly skilled talents.

Faced with rising prices and dismal wages, some Japanese young people choose to "gold hunt" overseas.

Takeshi Fukumoto, from Nara Prefecture, obtained Canada's working holiday visa last year, which allows visa holders to be legally employed in the country that issued the visa to perform some temporary work. He then moved to Toronto and worked in a restaurant kitchen.

Takeshi earns $16 an hour and works an average of 40 hours a week. Including tips, Takeshi's monthly income has exceeded 400,000 yen, which is much higher than Japan's long-term average monthly salary of 300,000 yen. Takeshi said that he has saved more than 1 million yen.

A Japanese migrant worker association said that against the backdrop of the depreciation of the yen, more and more people are trying to make money overseas, and the most popular among these "migrant workers" is Australia.

According to the Australian government, as of June 2023, the country had issued working holiday visas to nearly 15,000 Japanese in one year, the highest number since data were available in 2006.

Australia’s minimum hourly wage is A$23.23. The Migrant Workers Association says many people can earn an extra 1 million to 2 million yen a year by working at local restaurants, clothing stores or farms.

However, for those Japanese who want to work abroad, there is still a score to settle.

First, starting capital is higher than ever. Mako Watanabe, a Tokyo resident who graduated in March this year, plans to work in South Korea. But because the yen exchange rate continues to fall, she needs to exchange more yen for Korean won before departure. After calculation, her annual expenses increased by 150,000 yen, and she complained that she did not change the money earlier.

Secondly, the language test scores required by some jobs also require registration fees. It is reported that the registration fee for TOEIC, an English test well known to Japanese, is 7,810 yen. The registration fee for TOEFL, which is generally recognized in the United States, is US$245, which is five times the former.

Data from Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on May 24 showed that the employment rate of Japanese college students who graduated this spring reached 98.1% on April 1, a year-on-year increase of 0.8 percentage points, exceeding 2018 before the epidemic, and The 98.0% in 2020 reached the highest level since statistics began in 1997.

The main driving force behind this is the "seller's market". In the labor market, when supply exceeds demand and students are at a relative advantage, it is called a "seller's market." In Japan, where there is a labor shortage, this trend has become even more pronounced.

There is more intuitive data about Japan’s “labor difficulties”. According to statistics from relevant Japanese databases, the number of Japanese companies that went bankrupt due to lack of manpower increased to about 200 in 2023, setting a new annual high since the survey.

In order to alleviate the labor shortage problem, Japan is trying to attract talents from the outside. For example, Japan is continuously relaxing restrictions on foreign workers. Earlier this year, the Japanese government submitted a new five-year plan proposal, planning to cap the number of foreign worker visas with specific skills at 800,000 over the next five years. This is more than twice the figure of 345,000 in the last five-year planning period.

In addition, in order to further attract foreign workers, the Japanese government also changed its past practice and tried to relax immigration regulations.

However, some people believe that with the depreciation of the yen, sluggish wage growth in Japan, and rising wages in emerging market countries, the looser visa system will also fail as a "magnet".