There have been many cases in various places where construction workers are not gathering and construction is not proceeding as planned. An AEON Mall was scheduled to open in Date City, Fukushima Prefecture. The initial schedule was postponed from the end of 2024 to the second half of 2026. The delay in the store opening was due to construction workers not gathering and construction not proceeding as planned. The Tohoku region has a low manpower to begin with, and the workers are scattered all over the country. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s general construction statistics, construction companies have contracted construction work that has not been completed yet, but the amount of construction work that has been contracted and has not been completed reached 15 trillion yen as of March 2025. The amount of construction work that construction companies have on hand has exceeded 15 trillion yen in value, the largest amount ever. If factories, supermarkets, etc. are built as planned and economic activity is carried out smoothly, productivity will improve and economic activity will become more active.
There were also cases in the early 1990s when construction did not proceed as planned. This was the latter half of the bubble economy, and construction demand was pouring in one after another. Currently, in contrast to the bubble period, the supply capacity of the entire industry is shrinking, and plans are being delayed. The faster construction is completed, the more active the economy will be. The factor that is hindering this is the labor shortage. The number of construction-related employees in 2024 will be 4.77 million, a 6% decrease from 10 years ago. Even more severe is that of the 4.77 million, 800,000 are 65 years old or older, accounting for nearly 20%. Compared to 10 years ago, the aging rate has increased by 5 points. If your physical strength declines with age, you will not be able to work as well as you did when you were younger.
The construction industry accounts for about 5% of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP). This industry is also a field that determines the future of the economy. For example, if factory construction stagnates, it will have an impact on delays in investment in the machinery to be installed. This is clear from the fact that in China, the stagnation of the real estate industry has led to the stagnation of home appliance manufacturers and other industries. If it is difficult to secure workers, one option is to increase productivity through digitalization, etc. Daiwa Institute of Research and others say, “Japan’s construction industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, and the introduction of IT (information technology) is lagging behind.” In Japan, the amount of software per person that can be used by construction workers to reduce labor is low. The current situation is that the amount of software per person that is used is only one-fifth of that in France and the UK. Reforming the labor-intensive industrial structure seems to be the current challenge.
