Number of spot workers in Japan exploding

[thomas]

Japan is experiencing an explosion in 'spot workers' at hotels, bars, and stores: more than 10 million people have registered to take on-demand jobs. Armed with smartphone apps that find them openings, spot workers sign up to work for an employer for as little as a single shift. Spot work began to catch on in Japan in the late 2010s with the launch of apps like Timee. It has appealed to those seeking greater flexibility when and where to work. More companies here are letting employees take side hustles, contributing to the trend. According to placement agency data, roughly 30% to 40% of spot workers are looking to supplement full-time jobs, about 30% are freelancers and part-timers, and the rest are students.

While many workers are registered on multiple platforms, the number has nevertheless doubled since 2020 and amounts to 15% or so of all workers in Japan. Growth has quickened in recent months, with the total rising by about 3 million since September alone. [...] The number of companies seeking spot workers is surging as well. Timee's corporate clients increased roughly 40% to around 40,000 in a year. The number of openings at Japanese-style izakaya pubs and bars more than doubled on the year in April. Openings at restaurants and hotels increased around five- and 10-fold, respectively. These industries have struggled to secure workers as the economy recovers from COVID-19. Spot workers cost more to hire than regular part-timers, since employers must pay fees to placement agencies. Many companies use spot workers to fill the gap when regular part-timers are unavailable, and task them with simple jobs requiring little skill. But others are relying on them more heavily amid a persistent labor crunch.

Paywall alert:

Japan sees explosion in 'spot workers' at hotels, bars, stores

More than 10m people have registered to take on-demand jobs

asia.nikkei.com

 

[Majestic]

Wow - this is the first time I've heard of "spot" work. Interesting convergence of the need for workers, and the desire to not be beholden to any one place for a long time. This will be an interesting development to watch.

 

[Petaris]

The only area I have heard of this in is IT, where its usually one-off coding work. Though there are things like fiverr ( https://www.fiverr.com/ )as well. But not in a "come to the workplace" way.

 

[musicisgood]

Do you guys know about "HOT STAFF", they hire foreigners also.

 

[mdchachi]

In the old days we called these "day laborers."