With the Tokyo Olympics just two years away, a shortage of people to perform such tasks as controlling traffic has become a serious issue, as construction projects related to the Games are in full swing.
The number of job openings for construction-site traffic guards has been increasing, but potential employees tend to avoid jobs involving long hours standing up and dangerous operations. The combination of these two factors has resulted in the shortfall.
Offering high wages and generous benefits has not been enough to attract employees. Therefore, an increasing number of security companies are using robots for such projects.
"At a road construction site, you have to take a step forward and greet the driver so you'll be more recognizable to them," a lecturer for Security Green Co. told 19 newly hired traffic guards at a Tokyo building in mid-July.
Based on the Security Business Law, traffic guards must undergo at least 30 hours of training. "We start working the day after we finish the training program," said a 20-year-old man from Nerima Ward, Tokyo.
There has been a surge in the number of construction projects to maintain and improve roads in areas around Olympic venues, so the demand for traffic guards has been increasing.
Security Green, which employs about 4,500 traffic guards, opened two training centers in May in the Tokyo metropolitan area to hire a large number of workers.
The company hired a total of about 700 people in about three months, but the firm's sales manager, Takayoshi Miura, said, "The number of traffic guards [we hire] can't keep up with the increasing number of construction projects."
The ratio of job openings with an employment period of at least four months to job-seekers stood at 1.38 in fiscal 2017 in terms of all job categories.
However, the effective ratio of job openings to applicants in security-related jobs, including traffic guards, was 7.46, far surpassing the ratio for construction work of 4.13. The construction industry also has been suffering from worker shortages.
As the salaries in other job categories have continued to rise, traffic guard jobs, known for their high wages paid daily, have become less attractive.
It's also not easy for companies to hire foreigners, since traffic guards need to respond promptly in emergencies and have to posses a great deal of knowledge about traffic.
Another company in Tokyo provides its employees with free dormitory accomodations for up to six months, in a bid to secure personnel from regional areas.
"The battle with the construction industry to secure human resources has heated up," a company official said.
Technological innovations to reduce manpower have been accelerated, mainly by major companies. Sohgo Security Services Co., known as ALSOK, has developed a robot that detects unusual situations using a sensor, and issues a warning to suspicious persons by emitting sound and light.
"We'll enhance our efforts to ease the burden on traffic guards by assigning separate roles to robots for physically demanding and dangerous operations," an ALSOK official said.
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