Photo/Illutration A senior citizen receives care from workers at a facility in Saitama Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Anticipated shortages in the medical and elderly care sector are of growing concern as Japan braces for a sharp drop in its working population a little more than a decade from now, an Asahi Shimbun survey shows.

Questionnaires were mailed nationwide to 3,000 people of eligible voting age in February, and valid responses were received from 1,962 of them by April 10.

Sixty-nine percent of the respondents said they either strongly or somewhat felt a shortage of workers in all fields. Only 29 percent replied that they did not feel there is a shortage of workers, or only slightly so.

The survey results reflect widespread concerns overestimates of future worker numbers.

One is that the working population, those between the ages of 15 and 64, will plummet by 12 million people in 2040. The figure represents close to 20 percent of the working population today.

Respondents were asked to provide multiple answers from nine sectors deemed vulnerable to future worker shortages.

The medical and elderly care sector had the largest response at 80 percent, followed by distribution and delivery services at 58 percent.

An overwhelming 89 percent of respondents said they were worried that either they or their family members would not be able to receive adequate elderly care in the future due to a lack of qualified staff.

When asked how a worker shortage in the elderly care sector could be alleviated, the most popular response, given by 56 percent of respondents, was to greatly increase salaries.

Much smaller percentages of respondents gave other options for augmenting the worker shortage in the elderly care sector.

Only 19 percent replied that the system should be expanded to make it easier for family members to provide such care. Sixteen percent called for greater educational opportunities for those thinking about going into the elderly care sector while 4 percent thought bringing in more foreign workers was the answer.

Respondents were asked to choose from either raising the financial burden through taxes and user fees to maintain current levels of elderly care or keeping the burden unchanged while decreasing the level of elderly care provided.

Fifty-six percent of respondents chose a greater burden through taxes and other means while only 33 percent called for a reduction in the level of elderly care currently provided.

While a greater burden was chosen more often among all age brackets, the ratio for choosing a reduced service increased as the age bracket became younger.

For example, among respondents in their 60s, 58 percent chose a greater burden and only 29 percent said reduced care. But among those between 18 and 29, the ratios were 49 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

There was a large increase in the percentage of respondents who said those aged 65 and older should continue to work in comparison to a similar survey conducted in November and December 2018.

In the latest survey, 57 percent said it was better if those 65 and older continued to work, while 34 percent disagreed.

In the 2018 survey, the respective ratios were 49 percent and 41 percent.

Opinion was divided over whether a decline in social services had to be accepted considering the expected worker shortage. While 50 percent said such a future had to be faced, 46 percent disagreed.

There was greater expectation that technological advances will help to overcome expected future worker shortages, with 57 percent saying they felt Japan could develop cutting-edge technology while 37 percent said they held no such expectations.

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