Kids Web Japan

Q. Which industries employ the most workers in Japan?

A.

As of 2004, 63.3 million Japanese were in the work force, with 58.7% of them being male. Roughly a third of women with paying jobs worked part-time.

The service sector was the biggest employer, with 27.4% of all workers on its payroll. It was followed by the wholesale, retail, and restaurant industries (22.7%), and manufacturing (19.4%).

The picture has changed dramatically since 1960. Then, agriculture was the largest employer, accounting for 30.0% of all jobs; now it provides just 4.5%. The proportion of people in services, meanwhile, more than doubled from the 12.0% of 40 years earlier.

The sluggish economy over the past few years was responsible for pushing the unemployment rate to a postwar high of 5.4% in 2002. The rate has since improved and stood at 4.1% at the end of 2006. For most of the period following World War II, it had remained between 1% and 2%.

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Share of Women in the Labor Force

Britain	United States	France	Germany	Japan
46.3%	46.5%	45.6%	44.8%	41.3%
(2004)	(2004)	(2004)	(2004)	(2004)

An International Comparison of the Working Week (Weekly Working Hours, Manufacturing Sector)

Britain	United States	France	Germany	Japan
41.0	40.9	35.9	37.6	44.0
(2003)	(2002)	(2004)	(2004)	(2004)

Unemployment Rate, 2004

Britain	United States	France	Germany	Japan
4.6%	5.5%	9.9%	11.0%	4.7%

Source: Ministry of Health Labor, and Welfare.