The latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (MEOS) forecasts a positive Japanese job market over the next few months with the strongest employment prospects in the services sector. Nationally the net employment outlook is +24 percent. All three regions anticipate strong job growth with Tokyo showing the best job market (+27 net employment), followed by Osaka (+21) and Nagoya (+20). The most buoyant industry for job growth appears to be the services sector (+33), followed by finance (+23), transportation and utilities (+23), wholesale and retail trade (+23), manufacturing (+21), public administration and education (+13), and mining and construction (+7). Employers in the mining and construction sector express the least employment optimism, where net employment is 31 percent below last quarter's measure, and 18 percent below the same period last year. Worldwide housing and credit market problems inevitably have impacted this sector’s numbers. Among the remaining industry sectors, all expect a decline in hiring over the previous quarter, with double-digit declines experienced in the finance and public administration and education sectors. The only two sectors which forecast year-over-year job growth are in the services sector and the wholesale/retail trade (+5 and +2 percent, respectively). The others, except for mining and construction, are expected to decline year-over-year by three to five percent.

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