Osaka Expo Workers Sought after by Short-Staffed Firms

Osaka, Oct. 10 (Jiji Press)–Companies are racing to hire workers who will be available for employment after the World Exposition in Osaka, a city in western Japan, ends on Monday after its six-month run. Firms from a wide range of sectors, including hotel and bus operators suffering serious labor shortages, are taking part in joint recruitment events, looking at some 20,000 such workers. In mid-September, 107 companies took part in such a joint job fair hosted by staffing agency Pasona Inc. in Osaka. They included Royal Hotel Ltd., which operates the Rihga Royal Hotels, and convenience store chain FamilyMart Co. “We want to get more workers who can serve wealthy guests from abroad and also work at interpreting,” an official at Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores Inc., which joined the job event with a plan to employ about 10 people. Nankai Bus Co., which has discontinued some routes due to a lack of drivers, put up a booth at a job fair held by the transport ministry’s Kinki District Transport Bureau for drivers of shuttle buses plying between the Expo venue and the parking lot. The company, based in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, wants to hire those ready to work after their stints at the Expo venue. Some people visited the company after the job fair to see what its workplace was like, a Nankai Bus official said. An official at the transport bureau expressed hopes that workers who came for jobs at the Expo from other parts of Japan will stay in the Kansai western region to help ease shortages of bus drivers. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]