Greying workers wanted for hire in ageing Japan

TOKYO, Jan 1 (Reuters) Looking for work in Japan? Shigeo Hirano says you may have an edge if you are older than 60.

Hirano, president of staffing agency Mystar 60 Corp., says so-called ''silver'' workers are in growing demand as Japan's population ages.

''Japan's best engineers and technicians are leaving factories and offices for retirement,'' said Hirano, who heads the employment company which specialises in finding jobs for those aged 60 and over.

''Companies are realising that hiring the elderly is the only way to retain high levels of skills and expertise,'' added Hirano, himself a sprightly 63.

Fears of a labour crunch and a deficit of skilled workers are growing in Japan as baby-boomers start hitting the standard retirement age of 60 this year, in what Japanese media have dubbed the ''2007 problem''.

A decline in young workers is exacerbating the concern as the population ages at an unprecedented pace.

The proportion of people over the age of 65 to total population is already the world's highest at 20 per cent of Japan's population of 127 million people. The figure is forecast to hit 40 per cent by 2055.

Changing demographics mean companies are looking to the elderly to clock in more years, and workers like Hiroshi Ebihara at a factory in Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo, are eager to work.

''I want to work as long as the company will let me,'' the 63-year-old said, in between drilling holes in a circular block of cast steel.

''Young workers come to me for help on how to read drawing boards and anything else they don't know,'' said Ebihara, who has worked for decades at Mayekawa MFG Co., a maker of compressors used in warehouse freezers.

MORE ENERGY Yasuhiro Sasaki, a 33-year-old supervisor at the Mayekawa factory, said older workers' enthusiasm, skills and experience were indispensable to his team.

''They have more energy than younger workers,'' he said.

Major staffing agency Pasona Inc says both the number of elderly seeking work and the number of companies wanting to hire them have doubled since April.

Jobs for older workers are not limited to manufacturing.

Financial institutions are also scurrying to hire older workers as they cater to a growing pool of retail investors.

At Nikko Cordial Securities Inc, around 70 per cent of staff at a call centre for stock investment advice are aged 60 and over with experience in the financial sector.

''Many customers want a rundown of the market before placing an order and it helps to have someone with decades of knowledge and experience working in the industry,'' a spokesman said.

Not all are finding it a breeze to find jobs, however.

A recent Health and Labour Ministry survey showed 70 percent of Japanese in their 50's wanted to keep working past age 60, but other surveys indicate companies are being stingy with pay and selective about who they keep on or hire.

Staffing agency Pasona has about 8,000 retirees signed up seeking jobs, but only 10 per cent have found work, said Daisuke Nakayama, a Pasona manager whose department handles employment opportunities for senior citizens.

ELDERLY, WOMEN, YOUTH, ROBOTS Japan revised laws this year to require companies to retain older staff, but many are extending work only to a favoured few.

The trend is a cause for concern, analysts say, not only because shunning older workers deprives companies of the same skills that powered Japan's rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, but because it deprives senior citizens of income.

Many elderly have no option other than to work. The government is gradually raising the age limit for retirees receiving full pension payouts from 60 to 65.

''The system for retirement must be compatible with the pension scheme,'' said Atsushi Seike, professor of labour economics at Keio University in Tokyo. ''Companies need to raise the retirement age to at least 65, or even 70.'' To keep industries competitive, Japan should also open its door to more foreign workers, while companies need to lure the younger generation to take up skilled work, Seike said.

Around 2 million Japanese from their late teens to early 30's are without full-time work, government data show, while another half-million feed off their parents' income and are classified as NEETs -- not in employment, education or training.

Hidemitsu Sano, head of staffing agency Fancl Staff Co Ltd, hopes to expand job placements for retirees for now but said companies may resort to other sources of labour in the future.

''There are only four solutions to a labour shortage in Japan -- the elderly, women, NEETs and foreigners,'' he said.

''After that, Japan will have nothing to turn to but robots.'' REUTERS AKJ HS0853