People with disabilities in Japan found gaining employment increasingly difficult during pandemic

By Barrier Free Japan, extracts from NHK

June 25 2021

The number of people with disabilities who found jobs through Hello Work in Japan last year was 89,000, down 12% from the previous year due to the new coronavirus,

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of people with disabilities who found jobs through Hello Work nationwide last year was 89,840, a decrease of 13,323, or 12.9%, from the previous year. This is the first time since 2008, when the Lehman Brothers shock hit, that the number of people with disabilities has decreased from the previous year, and the rate of decline is the largest since the 1970 survey.

In terms of the industries in which they found work, 34,417 were in the medical and welfare sector, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the total, followed by 15,515 in the wholesale and retail sector and 10,357 in the manufacturing sector.

By industry, the rate of decrease from the previous year was 31.7% in the accommodation and food services industry and 31.2% in the lifestyle-related services and entertainment industry.

The employment rate for people with disabilities through Hello Work was 42.4% last year, down 3.8 percentage points from the previous year. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) said: “The number of job offers decreased due to the new coronavirus, and many people with disabilities refrained from job-hunting due to fears of infection, leading to a significant drop in the number of job-hunters. We want to strengthen our support through Hello Work”.