The number of wage workers, considered stable jobs, fell for the fourth straight month. This is the first time since the COVID-19 period, when it fell for 12 consecutive months (March 2020 to February 2021). There are claims that hiring is declining due to the spread of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) on the 17th, wage workers last month totaled 22,487,000, down 11,000 from a year earlier. Wage workers fell for four months in a row: 43,000 in April, 115,000 in May, and 81,000 in June.
By industry, the decline was steep in professional, scientific and technical services (down 86,000). This category includes research and development and architectural engineering, as well as professional fields such as lawyers and accountants. The impact of AI replacing jobs appears to have been significant.
In addition, wholesale and retail had 72,000, construction 71,000, associations and organizations and personal services 44,000, educational services 27,000, and manufacturing 26,000.
By age, those 15 to 29 fell by 210,000. Those 20 to 24 decreased by 138,000, 25 to 29 by 87,000, and 40 to 44 by 106,000. In contrast, those in their 60s increased by 87,000.
Total employment rose by 108,000. Although wage workers decreased, nonwage workers—made up of the self-employed and unpaid family workers—increased by 1,190,000.
Among nonwage workers, self-employed with employees increased by 30,000 in wholesale and retail. Health and social welfare rose by 19,000, and transportation and warehousing by 12,000. For self-employed without employees, the increases were large in associations, organizations and personal services (33,000), professional, scientific and technical services (30,000), real estate (22,000), and information and communications (19,000).