Local governments across Japan are scrambling to attract more civil engineering workers (see below) amid a severe labor shortage, with some even dropping written exams from the screening process and appealing directly to applicants' parents or guardians at explanatory meetings.
The number of civil engineering workers at local governments has dropped by about 20,000 over the past decade. Although demand for workers with civil engineering skills has increased in line with a growing need for post-disaster construction work, the decline in large development projects and a perception that the work is "grueling" has apparently turned off some potential applicants. This has prompted local governments to step up moves to attract more people to this field.
The website of the Itami city government in Hyogo Prefecture carried a message in bold red lettering: "No written exam for technical jobs."
Until last year, the Itami government had conducted written exams that tested the expert knowledge of aspiring civil engineering workers. However, some applicants would not turn up to the exam and at times the number of successful applicants fell short of the target.
To address this problem, the Itami government decided that this year's summer recruitment process for all technical jobs, including civil engineering positions, would for the first time involve only an interview. Consequently, this year, 59 applications were submitted -- 41 more than in 2017. In the end, the city government hired five civil engineering workers -- three more than the previous year.
"Our recruits can acquire expert knowledge through training after they start working for us," said an Itami city government official.
In March, the Ibaraki prefectural government held its first explanatory meeting for parents or guardians of potential recruits seeking civil engineering jobs. This meeting attracted 35 attendees. Securing new recruits is an urgent issue for the prefectural government because 25 civil engineering workers will reach retirement age in March 2019. This is about double the number of such retirees in a normal year.
At the meeting, prefectural government officials touted the benefits of a civil engineering career to parents hoping their children would work locally. "We'll give consideration to their employment location," one official said. "They will be able to take days off and spend time with their family."
The government official said "many talented students" joined the recruitment process and 28 passed -- an increase of 12 from the previous year.
Infrastructure repairs
According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, local governments across the nation had a total of about 193,000 employees in civil engineering-related positions, including administrative posts, in 1997. This figure declined to about 158,000 in 2007 and about 139,000 in 2017. The overall number of local government employees also has been trending downward, but the rate of decline among civil engineering workers has been higher.
Civil engineering workers are essential for tasks including disaster reconstruction work and operating and maintaining infrastructure, but the worker shortage means that sometimes they are unable to cover all the necessary work.
As of October, local governments across Japan had dispatched 344 civil engineering workers to Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, which were hit hard by the Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011. Even so, this is 63 short of the number these prefectures need.
Bridges built around the nation during the period of high economic growth are aging, but local governments cannot find enough workers with the skills to repair these vital pieces of infrastructure.
According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, 25 percent of the about 520,000 bridges that have records detailing their fiscal year of construction are at least 50 years old and require extra care for their upkeep. Despite this, a growing number of bridges have been deemed unusable because they could not be repaired.
'Grueling' and 'dangerous'
The shortage of people willing to work in civil engineering comes against a backdrop of decreasing urban development projects, which were considered the pinnacle for workers in this industry.
Until around 1990, the bubble economy delivered huge projects such as the construction of new housing developments and Shinkansen lines across Japan. But after the bubble economy burst, these massive construction projects started to vanish. Central Tokyo is currently a hive of redevelopment as the capital prepares for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, but the impact of this on rural areas is reportedly low.
In 2012, Takeshi Iyoda, a professor of civil engineering at the Shibaura Institute of Technology, surveyed high school students about their perceptions of jobs in this field.
When the 217 students who said they had little interest in civil engineering were asked to select a keyword they associated with this sector, the most common answer -- which was given by 13 percent -- was "grueling," followed by 12 percent each for "dangerous," "disaster prevention" and "helmet."
"If the number of civil engineering workers falls, the nation won't be able to ensure the safe daily living of residents in regional areas," Iyoda said. "We must devise ways to heighten students' interest in civil engineering jobs, such as by boosting the image of them as 'people who prevent disasters from happening.'"
-- Civil engineering
Among recruitment categories used by local governments, this is one of the "technical jobs" requiring expert scientific knowledge. Civil engineers need basic knowledge of, among other things, structural mechanics and soil mechanics to calculate the strength and stability of buildings and the ground, and of hydraulics for understanding the flow velocity of a river and water pressure. Civil engineers and related workers are usually assigned to construction, urban development and waterworks departments.
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