Japan Firms Reviving Voluntary Retirement Programs

Tokyo, Nov. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japanese companies are increasingly asking their employees to quit voluntarily to reduce labor costs as part of their business restructuring efforts, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said Tuesday. 

As of Friday, 9,219 workers at 53 publicly traded companies had applied for their firms' voluntary retirement programs this year, according to the private credit research firm.

The number of applicants jumped threefold from a year earlier to far exceed the annual figure of 3,161 for 2023 and that of retirement-soliciting firms grew 1.5-fold.

Tokyo Shoko Research then predicted that the 2024 total will exceed 10,000 to hit the highest level since 2021, when 15,892 workers, mainly at service-sector companies such as travel agencies and retailers, applied for such programs amid the COVID crisis.

Toward year-end, some other major companies will offer large-scale programs, it pointed out.

Those firms include Nissan Motor Co., which is going to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., which is soliciting an unlimited number of applications, Fujitsu Ltd., which has already set aside 20 billion yen to reduce payrolls, and Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc., which hopes to see 1,000 employees aged over 49 quit voluntarily.

Voluntary retirement offers were decreasing through last year amid serious labor shortages in the country.

"But with the COVID pandemic's impact on the jobs market having run its course, globally active manufacturers, in particular, are reviving large-scale programs," a Tokyo Shoko Research official said.

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