Japan by the Numbers
Japan's job-change rate moved two points in thirty years
More people want to move every year. The number who actually move has stayed flat
Nobu Sato6 min read
Contents4
Executives who come to Japan hear two things about hiring. Japanese people don't change jobs. And, if they read recent headlines, Japanese people have started changing jobs.
Both are half right. I lined up the government numbers back to 1990. Things have moved, but very little. And the people who move are not the ones foreign companies want.
Ten million want to move. Three million do.
In 2024, 10 million employed people in Japan said they wanted to change jobs. 3.31 million actually did. One in three.
Recruit Works Institute followed the same individuals over time. Of those who said they wanted to change jobs, 87% were still at the same company a year later. Among regular employees, only 8.4% had moved.
So yes, more Japanese want to change jobs than a decade ago. About two million more. But the step from wanting to doing hasn't gotten any shorter in thirty years.
More people want to change jobs every year. The number who actually move has stayed flat
Employed people in Japan who want to change jobs, and those who did (Statistics Bureau Labour Force Survey; chart: quarterly 2018 to 2023, rows: 2024 average)
Want to change jobsChanged jobs
- Want to change jobs10.0m
- Changed jobs3.31m
Only one in three of those who want to move does. Recruit Works Institute found 87% still at the same company a year later.
Men: 3.0% to 3.8%
The job-change rate is the share of employed people who changed jobs that year. Japan has a continuous series from 1990.
Men: 3.0% in 1990, 4.1% in 2000, a peak of 4.6% in 2007, 3.8% in 2022. Women: 4.1% in 1990, 6.6% in 2007, 5.4% in 2022.
Thirty years. Under one point for men, a bit over one for women. The record year was 2019, with 3.53 million job changers. The pandemic pushed it down, and 2024's 3.31 million still hasn't recovered.
Show this chart to an American and they'll assume the data is wrong.
In thirty years, the male job-change rate went from 3.0% to 3.8%: less than one point
Share of employed people who changed jobs that year, by sex (JILPT Useful Labour Statistics, Labour Force Survey, 1990–2022)
- 19903.0%
- 20004.1%
- 2007peak4.6%
- 2022latest3.8%
- 19904.1%
- 2007peak6.6%
- 2022latest5.4%
Under a point for men, just over a point for women. “The Japanese now change jobs too” overstates it.
Who moves: the young and women
Split it by age and you get a different story.
Men aged 15 to 24: 7.5% in 1990, roughly 10 to 13% since 2002. Aged 25 to 34: 4 to 6%. Aged 35 to 44: 2.2 to 3.7%. Aged 45 to 54: from 1.5% to 2.5% over thirty years, never above 2.6%.
A 45-year-old Japanese man has a one-in-forty chance of changing jobs this year. In 1990 it was one in sixty. That is the entire change.
And this is exactly the person foreign companies want to run their Japan entity. Mid-forties, fifteen years at a large company, has run a team, has customers. He is in the least mobile group in the country.
Men aged 45 to 54, the people foreign companies want most, have stayed near 2% for thirty years
Male job-change rate by age group (JILPT Useful Labour Statistics, approximate range 1990–2022)
- 15–24since 200210–13%
- 25–344–6%
- 35–442.2–3.7%
- 45–54never above 2.6%1.5→2.5%
A 45-year-old man has about a one-in-forty chance of moving this year. Don’t post and wait. Go find them.
What this means for hiring
If your hiring plan assumes "Japanese people change jobs now," it will miss. The people moving are in their twenties, and women. Men over 35 behave much like their fathers did.
Mid-career people can be hired. They just won't come to you. A 2.5% rate means two or three in a hundred will move this year, and they don't apply. You have to find those two or three first and look at them one by one. I call this scouting, and for any role I start there. That's what A talent map is not a list is about.
One more thing. Once someone has changed jobs in Japan, the second time is easier. In my own experience the difference is stark. People who have moved once are easy to approach. People who never have are nearly impossible. So when I scout, the first thing I look for on a resume is that one move.
A caveat. The rate measures what people did last year, not what they intend. The data runs to 2024, and the 2023 and 2024 spring wage rounds were the largest in thirty years (see Japan's wages since 1945). I don't know yet whether a widening pay gap will move the mid-career group. I'd give it two more years before calling it.
The statistics also don't separate Japanese nationals from foreign residents. Foreign workers almost certainly change jobs far more often, but the published data doesn't split them out.
The forty-somethings in your Japan entity: did they apply, or were they found?
Why the young move first starts with Japan's annual graduate intake. More in Japan's 98% graduate employment rate: check the denominator.
The job-change rate counts who moved. For how long those who stay have been at their employer, see How long do people in Japan stay at one company?
The people who moved are only part of the picture. In 2025, 10.23 million people in Japan said they wanted to change jobs; I look at that gap in 10.23 million want to change jobs, 3.3 million did.