10 April 2024

Rate of Foreign Candidate Hiring Increases
TOKYO - Specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters announced trends in the hiring offoreign national candidates on April 10. In recent years, as the domestic workforce has been shrinking,companies have been focusing on boosting diversity in their hiring process. In this release, we takea look at how the rate of foreign national candidates hired has been increasing.
Foreign Nationality Candidates - Hiring Ratio
According to our placement data between 2017 and 2023, the percentage of foreign nationalcandidates hired for positions through our company was 19% in 2017 and 30% in 2023, there has
been an 11% increase in the last seven years. The hiring rate was flat in 2020 and 2021, when there
were strict travel restrictions due to the pandemic but has been increasing since 2022. The recruitment
rate of foreign nationals is expected to increase over the long term in the future due to the impact of
the chronic labour shortage in Japan, therefore driving a need for companies to implement morediverse hiring practices.

Foreign Nationality Candidates - Permanent vs. Contract Employment

140%

30%20%

20% 19%18% 19%

2016

2017

21%

31%

29%

27% 28%

28%

2019

2020

2021

2022

PermanentContract

24%

24%

27%

27%

29%

33%

10%

0%

2018

2023

Looking at the employment rate of foreign national candidates in terms of permanent and contract
employment, we see that the percentage of foreign national candidates who have been placed inpermanent employment positions through our company has been slowly increasing. The increase in
the number of permanent positions indicates that foreign national candidates are becoming moresought-after in the long term, rather than filling shorter term contract positions. The overall trend forcontract employment is also on the rise.
Foreign Nationality Candidates - Career Change by Industry and Discipline
Next, we will look at the industries and disciplines in which foreign national candidates have actuallychanged jobs. As shown in the chart below, many foreign nationals are working in the IT industry,
which has always had a serious talent shortage, and the need to utilize diverse human resources has
been more urgent than in any other industry, making it the top industry in which foreign national
candidates are changing jobs in. It can be predicted that foreign national candidates are more likely
to change jobs as temporary employees, especially in industries and occupations where talent are
replaced on a project-by-project basis.
Although the number of foreign national candidates changing jobs is still limited to a few fields, thisresult indicates that companies are beginning to hire a wider range of personnel in light of the serious
talent shortage with specialised skills in the IT industry and other industries. It is expected that theemployment of foreign national candidates will expand to various industries in the future.

2Contract

PermanentITIT

61%

71%

Engineering

32%

Digital & E-commerce28%

Supply chain

22%

Engineering

24%

Banking & Financial Services

21%

Retail & Consumer Products

19%
17%

Digital & E-commerce

17%

Supply Chain

Retail & Consumer Products

15%

Banking & Financial Services

0%

50%

100%

8%
0%

50%

100%

The above findings indicate that this trend of increased hiring of foreign national candidates is not atemporary one but one we expect to see continue. The same trend is also seen in the utilization ofsenior-level talent, suggesting that companies are promoting the use of diverse human resources andaccepting diverse skill sets and ways of thinking. The deployment of a more foreign nationals, which
has been increasing as a result of the talent shortage, is playing an active role to bolster a morediverse and inclusive work environment, making it easier for everyone to work. Research has shownthat companies that are more diverse have a higher potential for growth when compared to othercompanies, and this trend can be predicted to lead to future growth for companies as well.

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About Robert Walters Japan:
Established in London, United Kingdom, in 1985, Robert Walters is a specialist recruitment consultancy withoperations in 31 countries around the world. Robert Walters Japan established its Tokyo office in 2000 andOsaka office in 2007. For over 20 years, we've been a driving force in the Japanese bilingual recruitment market,
providing high quality candidates for our clients and access to the best jobs. Our consultants are experts in theirrespective industries and work in teams to provide recruitment consultation services across a wide range ofindustries and job categories.
Press contact:
PR & Communications, Robert Walters Japan
Phone: 03-4570-1500 E-mail: info@robertwalters.co.jp

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