Japan Steel Workforce Declines by 6.7% in 2009

Japanese workforce of steel production sites decreased by 6.7% to 209,314 including workers at re-rollers, fabricators and ferrous scrap processing plants with 10 or more employees in 2009 from 2008, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The number decreased for the first time in 6 years due to the global economy recession and showed 35% decline over the past 20 years. The workforce continued decreasing from the peak of about 320,000 in 1991 while the number increased from 2004 through 2008 due to growing demand in emerging countries. Despite the increase in steel production in 2010, the industries try to keep labor cost at low level when competition gets severer with Asian rivals under higher yen rate.

The number of production sites decreased by 5.7% to 3,025 in 2009 from 2008, which decreased for the first time in 4 years. The number showed 20.7% decline compared with 1989.

The total shipment of the production sites decreased by 34.7% to 15.678 trillion yen in 2009 from 2008, which represented for the first drop in 4 years. The shipment showed widest decline as nonferrous metal industries among all Japanese industries. However, the shipment decrease for steel industry was 7.2% compared with 1989 when the productivity improved with higher valued products and better efficiency through facilities consolidation.