A subsidy program will be established by the economy ministry to aid small and midsize companies mainly in regional areas looking to recruit young workers.
The plan is to provide wide-ranging support, from help with conducting online interviews to strategies for developing human resources.
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will include 800 million yen for the program in the budget estimate for fiscal 2021, and hopes to have it up and running as early as next spring. It also aims to encourage an influx of manpower to regional areas in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Over the past few years, small and midsize firms in regional areas have struggled to hire young workers due to the perception that the pay and benefits are not as good as those offered by larger companies in urban areas such as the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Smaller regional companies have had trouble reaching out to students in metropolises and attracting talent.
The subsidy program will tap the expertise of major human resources providers in hiring new graduates and midcareer workers. Specifically, the program will provide consulting for hiring strategies and help companies post their profiles on job information sites, conduct online interviews, and develop talent after new workers are brought on board.
The ministry plans to shoulder two-thirds of these expenses, up to a maximum of 2 million yen, and subsidize about 500 companies in fiscal 2021.
Small and midsize companies are said to spend nearly 4 million yen a year on average to hire new graduates.
Costs related to participating in company information sessions and registering on job search sites account for a large proportion of these expenses, and they place a heavy burden on smaller companies with a weak financial base.
The program is also aimed at encouraging workers -- who are currently concentrated in large cities, especially the capital -- to move to less-populated regions.
According to the government's annual report on domestic migration, the number of Japanese nationals moving to the Tokyo metropolitan area from regional areas in 2019 was about 500,000, while the number moving in the opposite direction was only about 350,000.
The number of people moving to the Tokyo ares has exceeded the number that left for the 24th consecutive year, and there is little prospect of achieving the government's goal of stopping this influx in fiscal 2024.
One bright spot might lie in the pandemic itself. Since this spring, the number of people wanting to move away from the Tokyo metropolitan area and work in regional areas has been on the rise. In May, the number of people moving out of Tokyo exceeded those moving in for the first time since July 2013, when comparable figures for such a survey became available.
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