Xymax Real Estate Institute

TOPIC REPORTTo Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The Actual State and Issues of Non-Desk Workers

May 31, 2023

Introduction
Labor shortage refers to a situation in which companies are unable to attract the necessary humanresources to conduct business and thus are unable to execute their business as they would like. The
shortage of human resources in the labor market is a major social issue in Japan, where the population
continues to age and decline.
The degree of a labor shortage is generally represented by the jobs-to-applications ratio, which was 1.16
overall in 2022 (for full-time and part-time jobs). When this ratio is broken down by occupation, the ratio
was lower for occupations that mainly involve desk work in offices (0.63), while it was almost three times
higher for occupations that require work in various sites instead of desk work (“non-desk work”) (1.85),
indicating that the latter has more occupations that face a higher degree of labor shortage.*1
Furthermore, according to Population Projections for Japan: 2021 to 2070 by the National Institute ofPopulation and Social Security Research, the working-age population (population aged 15–64) is expected
to decline significantly from approximately 75 million in 2020 to approximately 62 million in 2040. Solving
the labor shortage problem will be essential for Japan to maintain its national strength in the medium tolong term and for companies and households to stably sustain the economic and consumption activities
they usually carry out.
In this project, we will focus on non-desk work and non-desk workers, the core of the labor shortage
problem, and plan to identify the issues and clarify the direction of measures to solve Japan’s labor
shortage problem in multiple reports.
*1

Excludes certain groups of workers with characteristics of both desk work and field work and workers not classifiable by occupation.

Desk Workers and Non-Desk Workers
Companies and the workers who work there have played a significant role in the development of Japan’s
economy. Industries have been segmented according to the changes of the times, and workers working invarious companies have contributed to building a more prosperous society. It goes without saying thatworkers will continue to support and drive the Japanese economy in the future.
Workers are generally divided into white-collar and blue-collar workers. The former are mainly engaged
in clerical work in the office (at the desk) and can be described as “desk workers.” The latter, also referred
to as essential workers especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, do not work at a desk but mainly in the“field” and can be rephrased as “non-desk workers.”
Looking back at Japan’s labor market in the past, the demand for desk workers had risen in line with theperiod of high economic growth and the accompanying transformation of the industrial structure. However,in today’s Japan, labor supply and demand have changed as the population has begun to decline, theworking-age population shrinks, and workers generally age, resulting in a severe shortage of labor,
TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Instituteespecially non-desk workers, in a wide range of workplaces. In the near future, the demand for desk workers
may reach a ceiling due to the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DX),
while the demand for non-desk workers may increase further depending on the occupation.

What Is a Non-Desk Worker?
In this chapter, we will describe what a non-desk worker is qualitatively. What types of workers work in
the field and not at a desk?
Specifically, non-desk workers include a wide variety of workers, such as construction workers, careservice workers, security guards, janitors, drivers, delivery workers, building superintendents, merchandise
sales workers, waiters and waitresses, manufacturing plant workers, doctors, nurses and other health care
workers, railway drivers, ship and aircraft operators, and agricultural, forestry and fishery workers.
The Standard Occupational Classification for Japan is widely used to classify occupations in Japan and is
the basis for the statistical survey of the population census. Figure 1 shows the classification of workers
into “desk workers,” “non-desk workers,” “desk and non-desk workers,” who have the characteristics ofboth desk workers and non-desk workers, and “workers not classifiable by occupation.”

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute
Figure 1: Worker Classification by Occupation

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on material from Recruit Works Institute’s Works Report 2022 Work Style Reforms for
Security Guards, Drivers, Construction Workers and Other Field Workers—How to Resolve the Shortage of Non-Desk Workers.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute

The Characteristics of Non-Desk Workers
We will then examine the characteristics of non-desk workers to gain further understanding.

(1) Non-desk workers support the infrastructure of daily life
The office is where companies’ activities take place and where workers work and engage in production
activities. However, the daily lives of each of us are supported by a large number of non-desk workers. For
example, when we shop, we visit a store where a wide variety of products are sold and certain services areprovided. Non-desk workers are in charge of most of the many business processes of store operations,such as the production of merchandise, transportation, inventory control, customer service, sales, delivery,
facilities management, repair, cleaning and security. In other words, from a consumer perspective, storesare the infrastructure that supports our daily lives, and non-desk workers support that infrastructure.
The same applies to hotels and ryokan inns. Housekeeping, customer service, banquet and kitchen staff
are almost exclusively non-desk workers. It is thanks to them that we are able to stay in clean rooms andreceive certain services during our travels or business trips. As Japan, with its aging and shrinking
population, aims to become a tourism-oriented country, it is the non-desk workers who will receive thevast number of inbound customers and hold the key to revitalizing the economy.
Non-desk workers also play a significant role in the office where desk workers work. It is important that
offices are safe, secure, clean and tidy and that facilities are inspected regularly and managed adequately.
These tasks are performed by non-desk workers such as facility managers, repair workers, janitors andsecurity guards.
The above are just a few examples, but as you can see, non-desk workers are key to producing anddelivering various services and value, supporting the infrastructure of our daily lives and building a more
prosperous and sustainable society.

(2) Many people have non-desk work experience
When considering the general life stages of the Japanese, it is likely that many of them have experience
working as non-desk workers. The first part-time job that many people experience during their college
years is probably a non-desk job. Desk jobs such as clerical work are probably a minority.
According to the 16th Japanese National Fertility Survey (Conducted in June 2021), released in September
2022 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, about 70% of women continue
to work after giving birth to their first child, partly due to the spread of maternity and childcare leave
programs (for reference: The percentage had long remained at around 40%, and more women were retiring
after childbirth until around 2010). When these women take up part-time work after childcare has peaked,
they tend to choose jobs in the service sector, such as sales and restaurants, as well as factory work.
When office workers look for a new job after retirement, they often expand their options to include nondesk jobs such as security, delivery and cleaning.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute

Actual State and Issues of Non-Desk Workers as Shown inData
In this chapter, we quantitatively examine the actual state and issues of non-desk workers using census
and other data.

(1) The actual state of non-desk workers① Accounting for more than half of all workers
Looking at the number of workers by occupation in the Population Census, non-desk workers (30.13
million) are about 1.9 times the number of desk workers (16.14 million) and account for more than half ofthe total number of workers (57.67 million) (Figure 2). A likely factor is that non-desk workers cover a
wider range of occupations than desk workers, as we confirmed in Figure 1.
Figure 2: Breakdown of Workers

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on the Population Census by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute② A high proportion of older workers
Looking at the percentage of workers by age group shows that the percentage of non-desk workers
increases after the age of 60 (Figure 3). Possible factors include the relative lack of new recruitment ofolder people for desk jobs since desk jobs usually have a mandatory retirement age, while non-desk jobs
do not have as strict an age limit as desk jobs, allowing older people to continue working, and theabundance of non-desk jobs for desk workers looking for a new job after retirement.
Figure 3: Percentage of Workers by Age Group

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on the Population Census by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute③ A high percentage of non-regular employees (temporary and part-time employees)
Looking at the percentage of workers by employment type indicates that non-regular (temporary andpart-time) employees account for 45% of non-desk workers, a higher percentage than for desk workers(19%) (Figure 4). Possible factors include the abundance of jobs that do not require expertise or techniquebeyond a certain level and flexible working hours, making non-desk jobs the preferred choice for many
people, such as students, people raising children and older people.
Figure 4: Percentage of Workers by Employment Type

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on the Population Census by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute(2) Issues of non-desk workers① Relatively low wages
Figure 5 shows total annual wages by age and occupational category. According to this chart, the wages
of non-desk workers fall below the overall average from around the age of 30. Furthermore, while theoverall average wage peaks in the late 40s and the 50s, the rise in the wage profile of non-desk workers ismild, and the wage level is relatively low.
Figure 5: Total Annual Wages by Occupational Category

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on the 2022 Basic Survey on Wage Structure by the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare.

During the so-called “lost three decades” following the burst of the economic bubble, Japan was the
only developed country where wages did not increase. Since 2022, the momentum for wage increases has
risen mainly in large companies due to the impact of price increases, but how to raise wage levels in SMEs
and for non-desk workers is a major issue for Japanese society.

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute② Difficult to attract workers (labor shortage)
Figure 6 is the jobs-to-applicants ratio by occupation. It shows that the jobs-to-applicants ratio for
clerical work, a typical job for desk workers, was extremely low in pre-pandemic 2019 and 2022, at 0.50
and 0.43, respectively. On the other hand, the ratios for most non-desk jobs were above the overall average.
In particular, the ratios for security (7.77 and 6.30), construction and mining (5.23 and 5.05), service (3.59
and 2.86) and packaging (3.01 and 2.47) were more than double the overall average (1.45 and 1.16).
Figure 6: Jobs-to-Applicants Ratio (Permanent Jobs Including Part-Time Jobs)

Desk

Non-desk

workerworker2022<Total>

1.45

1.16

Administrative & managerial

1.63

1.14

Professional & engineering

2.18

1.83

Clerical

0.50

0.43

〇

Sales

2.30

1.80

〇

Service

3.59

2.86

〇

Security

7.77

6.30

〇

Agriculture, forestry & fishery

1.56

1.32

〇

Manufacturing process

1.74

1.93

〇

Transport & machine operation

2.63

2.03

〇

Construction & mining

5.23

5.05

〇

Carrying

1.69

1.31

〇

Cleaning

2.22

1.77

〇

Packaging

3.01

2.47

〇

〇
〇

Jobs-to-applicants ratio
2019

〇
〇

Occupation

Source: Created by Xymax Real Estate Institute based on the General Employment Placement Status by the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare* [Jobs-to-applicants ratio] Blue: Below overall average; Light red: Above overall average (less than twice the overall average); Red:
Above overall average (two or more times the overall average)

The Japanese society is currently moving toward a society with an aging and shrinking population thatis unparalleled in the world. The shortage of non-desk workers may become an impediment to theestablishment of a sustainable society.
In the medium to long term, productivity improvements from the introduction of AI and DX measures
such as digitalization may drastically change the structure of labor supply and demand. DX will not progress
uniformly across occupations—some occupations will have an affinity for digitalization, and some will not.
The groundwork for DX has been laid for desk work by the IT revolution, paperless initiatives and remote
work that have been underway for some time, and the resulting digitalization of information, as well as
improvements in telecommunications and computing power. More recently, there has been a remarkableevolution in generative AI, such as text and image generation, which has led to the launch of various
services using these technologies. Therefore, there may come a time when there will be a surplus of desk
TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Instituteworkers due to improvements in the business productivity of many desk jobs. On the other hand, nondesk workers, for whom there is currently a shortage, may face an even more significant shortage in Japan,
where the population is aging and shrinking, as some occupations are likely to require human labor despite
DX support in the future.

Summary
In this report, we presented the definition, actual state and issues of non-desk workers, who are at thecenter of the labor shortage problem, from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. In terms of theactual state, we confirmed that non-desk workers account for more than half of all workers, that there is ahigh proportion of older people among non-desk workers, and that there is a high proportion of part-timeworkers. In terms of issues, we confirmed that the wages are relatively low and that it is difficult to attract
workers.
In the future development of this series, we intend to consider future societal losses (the possible shapeof society) based on the estimated supply-demand gap for each occupation and proposed measures tosolve future labor shortages. As we track changes in social trends, we will also delve deeper into specificthemes and publish information as appropriate.
Xymax Real Estate Institute has conducted many studies and released reports on the work styles andworkplaces of desk workers (office workers). In this project, we plan to focus on non-desk workers as we
consider solutions to the labor shortage problem.
The percentage mix in the charts contained in this report is rounded to the first decimal place and, therefore, may not add up to 100%.

For further inquiries please contact below:
Xymax Real Estate Institutehttps://soken.xymax.co.jp | E-MAIL: info-rei@xymax.co.jp

TOPIC REPORT: To Solve the Labor Shortage Problem (Vol. 1)
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2024 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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