TOKYO, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- With its neon billboards and blaring television screens atop high-rise buildings, the Shibuya district in central Tokyo makes New York's Times Square look positively tame. And during the day, it's also the mecca of teenage fashion and all things kitsch, the driving force of the city's ubiquitous pop culture.
Yet, as Japan faces its highest unemployment rate since World War II, while personal and corporate bankruptcies have reached record highs, Shibuyahas also become home to the government-run job agency catering just for the needs of jobseekers 30 years old and under.
Nestled between a rather drab coffee shop and a restaurant that has seen better days, the job center building provides a sharp contrast to the jarring overflow of raucous music and loud advertisements only a block away.
Most people of student age have only just got up by 10 AM, but here, the twentysomethings are already earnestly going through the logbooks of available jobs, and there are only a few empty seats around the information desk. An intense silence prevails in the office, broken only by the hushed but urgent conversations between the officers of the center and those looking for jobs.
At any given time, there are four consultants hired by the Ministry of Labor to act as advisers and confidants to those facing the worst job market Japan has seen in recent history.
While there are nearly 6,000 job centers, "Hello Work" offices across the nation, the Shibuya office is the only one specifically geared toward the younger age group.
"The needs of the younger generation and the older one are quite different," said Hiroshi Yamaguchi, a consultant at the center. "Also, this arrangement (of founding a center specifically for a particular age group) makes it easier and more casual for young people to come in."
The Shibuya office was established early last month by the government as a means to address the increased joblessness of Japanese youths. It lists jobs both in the private and public sectors, for both full- and part-time jobs. While the overall population's unemployment is over 5 percent these days, the jobless rate for those under 30 is over double that rate.
Even though Japan has faced over a decade of little or no growth over the past decade, companies are still reluctant to lay people off, and instead turn toward attrition. That usually means that costly, middle-management workers are forced into early retirement, and companies simply shy away from hiring students straight out of college. Liberal arts degree students from less prominent schools with no specialized skill are particularly hard hit with bleak prospects.
Still, that doesn't mean there are no jobs at all. In fact, far from it. The only problem is that there seems to be a mismatch between the jobs available and the jobs that are desirable, especially for those straight out of school who are more concerned about finding a job for self-improvement, rather than seeking a means to pay down the mortgage.
Within the Hello Work network alone, there are currently over 151,700 jobs listed nationwide. At its Shibuya office, there are hundreds of full- and part-time jobs available within the Tokyo area alone, Yamaguchi said.
"There is actually a very short supply of workers in certain sectors. It's just that people don't necessarily want to go into them, partly from lack of knowledge about that industry," Yamaguchi added.
One desperately short-staffed sector is in caring for the elderly. Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and at the same time, the Japanese are one of the longest-living people around. As a result, the older age population is rapidly growing, while the younger generation is shrinking steadily. Indeed, those aged 65 years and older make up 17.5 percent of the total population at 22.27 million, and the government projects the rate to increase to 20 percent by 2006.
Yet, while there are 17,000 nursing homes, 28,000 assisted-living facilities, and 900 continuing-care communities in the United States, Japan only has about a third as many nursing homes to serve two-thirds the number of elderly. The so-called silver market is clearly an industry that is just waiting to boom while the overall Japanese economy remains in the doldrums.
Moreover, in its latest economic stimulus package, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a point of allocating more government resources to bolstering the social services market, both in the public and private sectors. Elderly care service providers and manufacturers currently get significant tax breaks amongst other benefits, and some politicians are lobbying for such perks to be extended significantly to make supply meet demand.
And what the silver market industry is particularly short of is manpower. But while the job market is far from rosy, it is still not bad enough to mobilize a sizeable number of younger workers who could be trained to become specialists in the sector.
"I've been temping for a while now, since I left college," said Satoshi, who like others at Shibuya's job center declined to give her last name. "I really would like a full-time job, because I want to be challenged, and be given more opportunities."
But Satoshi is not attracted to the possibility of becoming a manager at a nursing home, or working to become a top salesman for an elderly care products manufacturer.
"Actually, I'm pretty disappointed with all the job openings here," he said. With his degree in international relations from one of Japan's lesser-known colleges, Satoshi said he did not fit the profile of the bulk of jobs available at the center, nor did any opening thus far appeal to him to fill out an application form.
"And the consultant here told me about all these up-and-coming companies that are into looking after old people. But that is so not what I want to do," he added.
Tomoko, who was also at the center to see what was available on the job market, also expressed a lack of enthusiasm.
"All this caring for old people. I mean, it's pretty depressing. You know it's coming to you eventually, so why get involved with all that now," she asked. But Tomoko can actually afford to be choosy, since she still lives at home and only has to work for her own personal expenses, a situation many Tokyo youngsters find themselves in.
"The job's got to be cool. Otherwise, why bother?" she added.
