Robert Walters Japan to publish “Salary Survey 2017”

Bilingual recruitment agency Robert Walters Japan K.K. (Tokyo Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Managing Director: David Swan) launched the Salary Survey 2017 on January 30, 2017. This report summarises the latest employment trends in Japan as well as salary levels by job type and industry sector. In addition to reporting salary levels by industry and job type in each country in 2016, the report states the outlook for employment trends in 2017.

The agency published a booklet summarising the survey results (in Japanese and English) and distributes it free of charge. Moreover, the online edition will also be released on robertwalters.co.jp on the same day. It will also be distributed through the official mobile app “Salary Checker” (iOS/Android) from February.

Trends in 2016

In an economy showing signs of improvement and amidst ongoing trends such as the declining birth rate and ageing population and the entry of domestic companies into global markets, the 2016 jobs-to-applicants ratio (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey) reached its highest level in 25 years, a similar figure to the end of the bubble economy period.  The sense of talent shortage has continued to grow stronger.

According to the results of the company’s survey, there was a tendency for the knowledge and skills sought by companies when recruiting to differ from the knowledge and skills actually possessed by jobseekers.

Against this background, all salary levels continued to rise. In particular, there was striking growth in the salary levels of professionals fluent in both Japanese and English who possess knowledge and skills in a specialised sector. In last year’s survey the salaries of security or risk-related IT specialists were expected to increase by up to 20% but instead were increased by even more than that: up to 25%.

In this survey it has also become clear that the segmenting and diversification of human resource demand is progressing at a faster rate. In the manufacturing industry, particularly the renewable energy sector, automotive sector and the chemical sector which handles high-end electronic materials, more companies were found to be searching for professionals with multiple skills as a consequence of the diversification of business needs. These professionals included sales engineers who can carry out sales based on engineering knowledge and skills, and individuals with a combined knowledge of automotives and robotics. Looking at different examples, hiring requirements have also become more complex in fields such as supply chain, procurement and call centres.

Outlook for 2017

It is expected that competition between companies to acquire talent, primarily scarce human resources with enhanced skill sets such as bilingual specialists, will become more pronounced, and salary levels will continue to increase in many industries and job types.

Please look here for the trends by industry and job type.