Figure II-6-3-15

Changes in Construction Investment, Number of Licensed Contractors and Number of Employees in the Construction Industry

The amount of construction investment, after peaking at about 84 trillion yen in FY1992, dipped to about 41 trillion yen in FY2010, but is now forecast to get back to about 48 trillion yen in FY2015 (about 42% down from its peak).

The number of contractors was about 470,000 as of the end of FY 2015, down about 22% from its peak (at the end of FY 1999).

The number of construction employees (2015 average) was 5 million, down about 27% from its peak (1997 average).

(Notes) 1 The amount of investment is the actual results up to FY2012, estimates for FY2013 and FY2014 and a forecast for FY2015.

2 Number of licensed contractors at the end of each fiscal year (end of March of the next year)

3 The number of employees is a yearly average. Supplementary estimates for the three quake-stricken prefectures (Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima) in 2011 have been calculated by retrospectively correcting the estimated population based on the findings of the 2010 National Census.

Source) "Construction Investment Forecasts" and "Licensed Constructor Count Survey" by the MLIT and "Labor Force Survey" by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

## (2) Securing and fostering human resources to work for the construction industry

The construction industry builds on a large number of human resources. While the number of employees in the construction industry shows signs of pickup in recent years, it would be important for the MLIT to direct its continued efforts at securing and fostering industry leaders, including young workers, to enable the construction industry to continue playing its role as a community supporter in the background of falling birthrates with aging populations.

To this end, the MLIT is working to refurbish the environment that makes construction builder confident about their future prospects, including a continued, stable supply of public works funding, in addition to improving the labor conditions drastically, such as maintaining appropriate wage levels and encouraging their subscription to social insurance and other security programs. The MLIT revised the eligibility for technical certification tests to facilitate early use of young workers, and is keen to enhance education and training in the industry to facilitate smooth transfer of skills from generation to generation. Moreover, the MLIT aims to double the number of female technicians/skilled workers in five years in order to further increase women's engagement in the construction industry based on the action plan formulated in joint efforts of private and public sectors.

Moreover, the MLIT will be working to help boost productivity in the construction industry, such as by introducing i-Construction at construction sites and improving the heavily tiered subcontracting structure, in light of declines in working population in the future.

United public-private approaches will be driven to encourage more people to join in the construction industry and let them concentrate on their jobs with pride.

In addition, the project of receiving foreign construction workers is in place since April 1, 2015 as a time limited measure to handle increased construction demand due to one-off factors such as hosting of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Under this framework, 401 foreign construction workers entered Japan (as of March 31, 2016).