Recruit to set up new firm to help retailers find part-timers

May 21, 2007
By Ken Worsley

One powerful trend we’ve seen over the past fifteen years is the increase in the number of part-time workers as a percentage of the overall workforce. Two strong forces have been behind the establishment of this trend: in the 1990s companies were suffering from the burst of the asset bubble and simply needed to cut costs, even as the size of the workforce swelled. Over the past five years, companies have increased capital spending, but not spent more on labor, instead choosing to pursue the less expensive, part-time workers.

As a result, in 2006, Japan’s 11.25 million part-time workers represented 20.5% of the overall workforce. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 1996 there were 8.7 million part-time workers who accounted for 16.6% of Japan’s workforce.

What’s the point of all this? This morning the Nikkei announced that Recruit, one of Japan’s largest job placement service agencies, will be providing capital to help set up a new firm that will focus on helping retailing firms become more efficient by taking over all aspects of the recruiting process, starting with interviews and going all the way through to training.

There are still more open positions than job seekers, so firms are having trouble finding people, especially for part-time positions. Japan’s retail sector is also hurting very badly, with department store, supermarket and convenience store sales all posting declines last year. How are firms going to make themselves seem appealing enough to fill those empty positions at low cost without offering more money?

Filed Under Human Resources, Retail