The following article was popular in Twitter for a while ago.
"Layers in the early 40s are thin" A sense of crisis due to lack of hands President Asahi Kasei
Many Japanese companies reduced the number of employment around 2000. This is caused by an economic depression and this period is called as "Shu-shoku Hyo-gaki"(Employment ice age). It causes lack of between late 30s and early 40s employees for middle mangers.
This issue is caused by the common employment system in Japan.
In addition, this issue was expected but the system has not been changed.
Employment system in Japan
Most of Japanese companies employ new graduates in a year. The companies start employment activity around the new year and finish it by the summer.
The companies perform a ceremony of informal job offers in autumn, then the new employees becomes the official employees on 1st April in next year. This is a common time frame in Japan. Especially, the large companies are following this time frame and career employment is not a main in the employment system. Even the companies employ a mid-career person, the person is dispatched to a position nearly the same age proper staff, or under the staff. New younger staff does not become a manger.
Advantages of employment system in Japan
New graduates can get job offer even they do not have abilities nor intern experience. The companies employ a large number of staff at a moment and train them based on the company’s culture, rules, and policies.
##Disadvantage of employment system in Japan
As the news paper article described, if companies reduced the number of employment, it causes lack of the staff.
Most of Japanese companies follow the seniority system(Nanko-Joetsu). This system is based on the following preconditions.
Staff gets age = Staff becomes better staff = Staff gets better position
A lack of layer of the specific ages means lack of potential staffs for manager positions.
In order to resolve this issue, the companies should pull new staffs from other companies. However, other companies also do not have enough around 40s staffs. A lot of around 40s workers started their career as a temporary staff or part-time staff. Such people do not have enough job career to satisfy the large companies’s requirement.
How solve this issue
The answer is quitting the seniority system(Nanko-Joetsu). Just employ a staff who has desired skill and dispatch the person to the position.
If Japanese companies do not stick to “Age”, appropriate person should be found.