The workforce in Japan is shrinking as the humanitarian crisis intensifies

The small number of Japanese people who have reached the age of 20 last year while the workforce in this country is declining and the age has grown with steady growth, falling commodity prices and zero interest rates are reaching maturity.

The recent government statistics showing the number of Japanese people aged 20 on January 1 2022 dropped by 40,000 from last year to about 1.2m, the lowest since the survey began in 1968.

This decline reflects Japan’s inability to reverse the decline in birth rates. The birth rate was 1.34 babies per capita in 2020, with only 840,000 babies born in Japan that year.

Population in Japan dropped to 126.6m from last year, continuing a steady decline since the 2008 peak of 128m.

The fall of 20-year-olds reduces the number of “new adults” to 0.96 percent and casts a shadow on “Coming of Age Day” on Monday. National holidays are marked by the 20-year-old tradition of celebrating the joys and responsibilities of adulthood.

“I look forward to it. . .[but]I’m not sure if I would be happy to be an adult, ”said Rina, who was renting a kimono at the event in Shibuya district in Tokyo. “Japan seems to have a lot of problems that can’t be solved and I think that’s my problem now.”

It was a little comforting, he added, that the number of Japanese adults growing up this year because the legal age limit – allowing people to buy a mobile phone and apply for a loan without parental consent – was first reduced in 140. 20 to 18 years.

A study of young Japanese people ‘s perception of work and business shows that the country is sustainable demographic challenges develops a desire for tranquility more than anything else. Several 20-year-olds told the Financial Times that their main goal was to get involved in the company and avoid accidents. Starting a business, say several, represents a dangerous risky unknown.

For similar reasons, the support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party among young people was greater than that of other generations. This, says Junji Nakagawa, a professor at Gakuin University Gakuin, is a reflection of the 20-year-old’s view that the political landscape will not change.

“They do not think the economy will prosper in the future because the economy has been rising at a very low level as he recalls. “The number of students who want to work in government has increased recently because they want peace,” said Nakagawa.

A 19-year-old male student, who will be counted as an adult since April, said he voted for an LDP man last October. “We are in danger with Covid-19, so how can I suddenly give my will to another party? I can’t trust anyone,” said the student, who did not want to be named.

Market report Macromill research team last week revealed that 20-year-olds were more international-minded and home-based than previous members, which may have been exacerbated by the long-running Covid-19 movement.

Compared to the previous year, the study showed a decline in the number of people who wanted to work and study abroad, working with foreigners in Japan and learning foreign languages. In particular the proportion of those who wanted to “use English in the workplace” dropped from a peak in 2020 by 10.6 to 38%.

Yuki Murohashi, a spokesman for the Japan Youth Conference, noted that, above all, the situation of young Japanese adults was one of despair.

“They no longer have the idea that Japan will rise because they have not grown up since birth,” Murohashi said. “And they don’t think it’s too cheap. There are no big hopes or disappointments.”