Unemployed Japanese Workers Try Farming

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Susanne has never been here. There is a shortage of native Japanese workers in almost every corner of the job market. The 4.4% unemployment figure does not include foreign workers. The truth is, some prefecture governments are paying to ship foreign labors back to their home country because the auto parts factories have cut production by over 50% and the "gaijin" are the first to get laid off.

Wu 10:23PM May 11, 2009

Responding to the first comment. You oviously do not understand the situation in Japan. The population is aging, and shrinking at the same time. There are towns in northern Japan that do not have children. It is not a matter of pay, but population. People want to live in the cities, not in the rural farms where their families have grown for many generations.

MN of VA 7:08AM April 20, 2009

When you use the phrase "labor shortage" or "talent shortage" you're speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually have to say is: "There is a labor shortage at the salary level I'm willing to pay." That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence, the intellectually honest statement.
If you start raising your wages and improving working conditions, and continue to do so, eventually you'll have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
Re: Shortage due to retirees: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, people entering retirement age are being forced to work well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
If your job requires training and/or certification, again, raise your wages and improve benefits! You’ll incentivize people to self-fund their education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to fund their own education.

Suzanne G of NY 11:25AM April 19, 2009