## (4) Giving young people and women more opportunities to participate

(Promoting earlier participation on the part of young people and enhancing education and training for young people)

As the workforce ages, the development of an environment to get young people to find jobs with the specific aim of working in the construction industry and encourage them to keep these jobs going forward is a pressing issue. Specifically, we will work on significantly expanding the requirements for undergoing technical qualifications testing, expanding the scope of institutions subject to briefings ('caravan' sessions) from industrial high schools to primary and junior high schools and regular academic high schools, continuing the provision of support for the establishment of an education and training scheme by locally connected networks, and developing programs and educational materials required for education and training.

According to a questionnaire-based survey administered to children (by Kuraray), the percentage of boys entering the first year of primary school who indicate “carpenter or craftsperson” for their preferred future career has remained more or less constant, such that these occupations consistently rank in the top ten among all job categories (Figure 3-2-10).

Figure 3-2-10 Future Dream Occupation Survey (Boys)

2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
1	Athlete	(29.8)	Athlete	(26.7)	Athlete	(27.2)	Athlete	(22.6)	Athlete	(26.1)
2	Firefighter/rescue team member	(6.8)	Police officer	(8.2)	Police officer	(9.6)	Police officer	(10.9)	Police officer	(11.4)
3	Police officer	(6.3)	Driver	(7.8)	TV/anime character	(7.0)	Driver	(7.7)	Driver	(7.8)
4	Driver	(6.0)	Firefighter/rescue team member	(7.0)	Driver	(6.2)	TV/anime character	(6.7)	Firefighter/rescue team member	(5.9)
5	Chef	(4.6)	TV/anime character	(6.3)	Firefighter/rescue team member	(6.0)	Firefighter/rescue team member	(5.7)	TV/anime character	(4.7)
6	Patisserie/baker	(4.2)	Carpenter/ craftsperson	(4.2)	Carpenter/ craftsperson	(4.4)	Patisserie/baker	(5.0)	Carpenter/ craftsperson	(4.4)
7	Carpenter/ craftsperson	(3.8)	Chef	(3.2)	Patisserie/baker	(3.5)	Pilot	(3.5)	Patisserie/baker	(3.7)
8	Researcher	(3.7)	Patisserie/baker	(3.1)	Medical doctor	(3.0)	Medical doctor	(3.3)	Medical doctor	(3.4)
9	Entertainer	(3.5)	Researcher	(3.1)	Chef	(2.8)	Carpenter/ craftsperson	(3.1)	Pilot	(3.1)
10	TV/anime character	(3.4)	Self-employed ( )	(3.0)	Researcher	(2.7)	Researcher	(2.8)	Researcher	(2.5)

(Note) This survey was administered to children attending primary school.

Source) Developed by the MLIT based on Kuraray's "Desired occupations as indicated by newly enrolled first-year primary school students."

For boys entering primary school, the construction industry is regarded as an attractive industry (occupation). Transmitting that appeal to them so that they will continue to be interested in a construction profession could become a factor in increasing the number of young people entering this profession. For this reason, we need to continue to work on forming young people’s motivation for occupation choice, and promote the occupation by having skilled workers conduct visiting lectures for students that tells them about the fun and joy in creating things, by holding construction site tours, and by giving on-site training.

## (Promoting greater participation on the part of women in the construction industry)

Aiming to increase the number of women engineers and skilled workers two-fold in five years (Figure 3-2-11), the MLIT has been elevating opportunities for female participation by pursuing specific initiatives prompted by an action plan to enable greater female participation in the construction industry as formulated jointly by public and private entities in August 2014. Examples of such initiatives include support for programs to promote female participation with community involvement, the steady implementation of model construction projects to advance the recruitment of female engineers and construction projects undertaken on a trial basis to establish quality washroom facilities at construction sites, the production of compilations of case studies involving the provisional establishment of washroom facilities at construction sites, and the launching of a portal site (“Women working in the construction industry are cool”) to comprehensively back female participation (Figure 3-2-12). Specifically, we are at the stage where we seek to change the workplace in order to facilitate more participation and involvement by women in the construction industries.

In FY 2015, progressive cases in support of female participation were collected, a case book in support of female participation in the construction industry was produced according to theme (Figure 3-2-13), and the first questionnaire-