Japan’s shrinking and aging population is spurring efforts by businesses to find new ways to keep the elderly employed for longer, as they seek to address a chronic and expanding labor shortage.
Earlier this year, the government committed ¥3.5 trillion ($23.6 billion) on measures to increase the birthrate, but the shortfall in available workers has been challenging employers for some time. Although Japan has taken steps to relax immigration controls, that hasn’t been enough to make up for a shortfall.
All of this has forced companies to come up with new ways to find labor and keep their operations running smoothly, sometimes with novel ideas. Here are some of the steps that shops, restaurants and other businesses are taking to attract and retain older staff.