Is it currently an employment ice age?

It seems that support measures for the employment ice age generation are being discussed between the ruling and opposition parties recently.

From the mid-1990s to 2000, the employment environment deteriorated extremely due to the collapse of the bubble economy and other factors, leading to situations where people were in non-regular employment, remained unemployed, or even if they found work, their salaries were kept low after joining the company.

Furthermore, changing jobs or finding re-employment remains difficult, and it is said that the employment ice age is still continuing today.
It seems there are as many as one million such people.

They have all already reached middle or old age, so this support is aimed at looking toward their retirement years.

However, as I wrote in my recent article, 'A bit surprised by the news that nearly half of people who changed jobs saw their salaries increase,' changing jobs can sometimes lead to a salary increase depending on the circumstances.

I think that if you can re-evaluate your skills and experience and confidently make effective use of them, the situation might improve a little.

Because the declining birthrate is progressing, labor shortages in places like restaurants seem to be becoming serious, but there are also cases where the aging population is leading to fewer job openings than before.

Due to the situation in Ukraine, US-China tensions, and inflation concerns, an increasing number of companies are feeling anxious about the future of the economy, and in some areas, there is a trend toward curbing the number of new hires.

With the rapid advancement of AI automation, some office workers and programmers are losing their jobs, and there has been an increased emphasis on more specialized knowledge and practical experience.

In these cases as well, it might be said that we are currently in an employment ice age.

However, looking at the current employment situation, something a little different from this can be seen.

The job offer rate for university students graduating in March 2025 reached a record high of approximately 99%, with almost everyone having their employment decided.

Looking at this, it can be said that finding employment has become easier.

However, this is because the recruitment activities of some popular large companies have started earlier, intensifying the competition between companies, and the reality is that other large companies and small to medium-sized enterprises are unable to meet their hiring targets and are struggling to secure the necessary talent.

This could also be called a recruitment ice age.

It can be said that this is a complete mismatch between the companies looking to hire and the people looking for jobs.

To make your job search even slightly more advantageous, you need to rethink your approach to choosing companies.
You should not just focus on large companies, but also look toward growing small and medium-sized enterprises and growth industries.

And as mentioned earlier, you must be able to demonstrate specifically how your skills can be useful to that company.
Also, even if you join a company, if you gain experience there, you can sufficiently make a comeback by changing jobs and connecting to the next step.

In this way, it can be said that building a self that is resilient to change is being required more than ever.

On the other hand, for companies to attract talent advantageously amidst the declining birthrate, they need a medium- to long-term perspective to hire based on an individual's potential rather than traditional recruitment forms, and to develop them into effective personnel from there.

There are few people who are ready to work immediately, and if you demand too much of that, you will fail.

Furthermore, you must ensure that new hires can envision their future selves at the company.
This requires not only fair evaluation and compensation, but also the "sense of purpose" that allows one to grow.

The era where you could adopt a condescending "I'll hire you" attitude during job interviews is coming to an end.
Instead, I feel that a stance of "growing together" is what is currently required of companies.

Thank you for reading.
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