FY2026 Report: Challenges of a Full-Scale Shift to a Growth-Oriented Economy | Chapter 5Time and Labor Supply: Hours, Commuting, and Local Wages
Overview
Although working hours are trending downward, full-time workers find it difficult to adjust their schedules flexibly. Long working hours harm health and satisfaction, while commuting time also affects labor supply and employment choices. In areas with few vacancies, employer monopsony may suppress wages, making flexible work arrangements, labor mobility, appropriate minimum-wage policies, and effective telework implementation important challenges.
Key points
- The decline in working hours has been partly offset in its impact on total labor input by the rising employment rate.
- Desired working hours vary among individuals, while employment systems constrain adjustment.
- Commuting time affects leisure, labor-force participation, and job matching.
- Areas with higher vacancy concentration tend to show lower wages.
Overview
This section analyzes household labor supply, work styles, and labor-market matching, focusing on working hours and commuting time. Working hours declined from 163.6 hours per month in 2013 to 149 hours per month in 2025, while the rising employment rate supported labor input.
The decline in average working hours reflects a larger contribution from declining hours within each category, such as gender, age, and industry, than from changes in the composition of worker attributes.
Key figures
- Change in individual working hours (2013 to 2025)
- From 163.6 hours per month to 149 hours per month
- Workers wanting to reduce full-time-equivalent working hours (2025)
- 33.9%
- Weekly working-hours threshold at which long-hours effects become more apparent
- Approximately 50–60 hours per week
- Number of commuting areas analyzed (2025)
- 1,000 commuting areas
- Wage decline associated with increased market concentration
- Approximately 10–12% for part-time workers and approximately 6–8% for full-time workers
Impact
Long working hours tend to harm health, family life, job satisfaction, and the sense of having sufficient time and mental space. Dissatisfaction with work and health tends to rise particularly when weekly hours exceed 50, also affecting corporate productivity and the ability to combine employment with childcare or nursing care.
In areas with few vacancies within commuting distance, workers have fewer options, and wage suppression may result from employer monopsony. Appropriate minimum-wage policies and the spread of telework may improve local employment conditions and promote market competition.
Details
Among regular employees in 2025, 7.2% wanted to increase their working hours, while 33.9% wanted to reduce them. Among regular employees who could not increase their hours, 65.7% cited company-related factors, such as the employment system. The rate of participation in side jobs was 11.0%, and differences in how side jobs are treated may affect disparities in working hours across statistics.
Commuting times are longer in urban areas: in Tokyo, 34% of workers commute for less than 30 minutes one way, compared with 56% nationwide. Workers with longer commutes tend to want to reduce their working hours, and telework can shorten total time spent under work-related constraints.
In commuting areas in 2025, approximately 40% had 250 or fewer vacancies, approximately 3% had 5,000 or more, and more than 20% had 50 or fewer. The HHI by commuting area and occupation was broadly flat from 2017 to 2025, but the results showed that markets with higher concentration tend to have lower wages.
Related Articles
2026-07-30 | Cabinet Office
July 2026 Consumer Survey: Index Rises to 34.9
2026-07-29 | Cabinet Office
July 2026 Monthly Economic Report: Gradual Recovery, Middle East Risks
2026-07-24 | Cabinet Office
FY2026 Report: Challenges of a Full-Scale Shift to a Growth-Oriented Economy
2026-07-24 | Cabinet Office
FY2026 Report: Challenges of a Full-Scale Shift to a Growth-Oriented Economy | Chapter 1 | Crude Oil Prices, Japan’s Prices and Wages Amid Middle East Tensions