Japan faces demographic crisis, elderly population hits record high | Wilnesh News

Japan celebrated Respect for the Aged Day earlier this week, a national holiday that highlighted a somewhat problematic fact – the country has a record number of seniors to celebrate.

government data Data released before the event showed that Japan’s population over 65 years old has risen to 36.25 million, a record high.

According to the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, although Japan’s total population continues to decline, the proportion of people aged 65 and above in the total population has increased to 29.3%, the highest proportion of all countries.

Robert Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, said the data further raised concerns about demographic and demographic changes. labor crunch in the country.

one poll Data from the Imperial Database last month showed that 51% of Japanese companies across various industries believe there is a shortage of full-time employees.

“Labor shortages are as severe as ever,” Feldman said, noting that they are particularly pronounced in labor-intensive industries such as food services.

At the same time, statistics bureau data shows that by 2023, the number of workers over 65 years old in Japan has increased for 20 consecutive years, reaching a record high of 9.14 million.

Feldman warned that as these older workers begin to retire from the workforce, there won’t be the same number of younger workers stepping up to replace them.

Based on recent trends, the proportion of Japan’s elderly population is expected to increase continue to riseAccording to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, this proportion will reach 34.8% by 2040.

Meanwhile, a recent research note from Morgan Stanley Feldman estimated that based on past demographic trends, the total labor force could decline from about 69.3 million people in 2023 to about 49.1 million people in 2050.

The Japanese government has recognized economic and social harm This may be due to these trends and measures have been taken to address them.

Several measures aimed at reversing the country’s decline Decline in birth ratewith the office of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rollout policy Such as providing more child support funding and supporting more child care facilities in the country.

Local governments have even taken steps to support public dating apps designed to allow Japanese people to hook up, get married and have children.

However, increasing the birth rate will not help solve the labor shortage problem in the short term. As a result, Japan has been steadily opening up to more immigrants in recent years, Record 2 million foreign workers 2024 and looking ahead More than 800,000 in the next five years, according to local media.

Feldman said making up for the country’s expected population losses over the next few decades will require the country to add tens of millions of foreign-born workers at a faster pace.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, which means a big part of the decline in the domestic workforce has to be made up by increased productivity from the young people who are left behind,” Feldman said.

Growth in worker productivity will require more capital investment in worker productivity and the implementation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation, he added.

Earlier this year, Carlos Casanova, senior economist at UBP Asia, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” that artificial intelligence technology is often considered a solution to Japan’s demographic crisis, but so far it has Little has been done to mitigate the problem.

“Our society is increasingly consumer-oriented, so you do want to have a large workforce making and spending money to maintain economic momentum,” Casanova said.

“Artificial intelligence can be part of the solution, but they have to do other things as well,” he added. In addition to immigration, he suggested that the country also work on social and structural changes, such as increasing female labor force participation.