In Japan, the jobs AI can't do are paying more than white-collar work

Average hourly wages for part-time and temporary workers in Japan are running well above the legal minimum, with the sharpest gains concentrated in construction, manufacturing, and physical labor jobs that require workers to be on-site in person.

Data from Baitoru, a part-time job listing site operated by Japanese recruitment firm Dip, showed that the national average hourly wage for part-time workers stood at 1,350 yen ($9) last month.

That was up 17 yen, or 1.3 percent, from the same month a year earlier — marking 11 consecutive months above the prior-year level. The number of job listings registered on Baitoru last month also rose 24.7 percent year on year, to about 396,000.

Compared with Japan's current national average minimum wage of 1,121 yen, actual part-time job postings are offering roughly 20 percent more — a sign that employers in a growing number of industries must offer above-minimum pay just to attract applicants.

The wage gains were especially pronounced in on-site occupations.

Construction workers averaged 1,570 yen per hour, up 179 yen from the same month last year and more than 200 yen above the overall part-time average.

Transport, cleaning and packaging jobs averaged 1,402 yen, up 165 yen year on year, while manufacturing and skilled trades rose 127 yen to 1,451 yen. Restaurant-related jobs climbed 45 yen to 1,218 yen, and retail positions gained 64 yen to 1,227 yen.

These occupations share a common trait: they require workers to be physically present at construction sites, factories, logistics facilities or stores, performing tasks that cannot easily be handed off to robots or automated systems, even as adoption of such technology expands.

Japan's chronic labor shortage is compounding the pressure, analysts say, pushing companies to compete by raising hourly rates to secure workers.

The trend in on-site wages is not a one-month phenomenon. Earlier surveys by Dip had already shown that transport, cleaning and packaging, manufacturing and skilled trades, and construction had been posting significantly larger year-on-year wage gains than other sectors.

By region, the Kanto area — which includes Tokyo — recorded the highest average hourly wage at 1,421 yen. Kyushu came in at 1,334 yen, the Kansai region covering Osaka and Kyoto at 1,326 yen, and Tokai at 1,299 yen.

Not all occupations have seen their wages rise, however.

The average hourly wage for professional roles fell 188 yen from a year earlier to 1,593 yen last month — still the highest in absolute terms, but declining. Education jobs dropped 122 yen to 1,577 yen, and office work fell 77 yen to 1,331 yen.

The divergence has prompted some analysts to argue that Japan is seeing a split in wage trends between desk-based and professional work — where generative AI and digital tools are relatively easy to deploy — and physical, on-site jobs that still depend on human labor.

AI alone cannot explain the shifts in hourly pay by occupation, however. Labor shortages vary by sector, and wages are also shaped by the skill level required, work location, hours and seasonal hiring demand.

A similar pattern is visible in South Korea, where actual part-time wages also exceed the legal minimum. A survey of 933 part-time workers conducted in July by job platform Albacheongguk found that the real average hourly wage in the first half of this year was 11,233 won ($8), about 8.8 percent above this year's minimum wage of 10,320 won.

Japan's part-time wages face another shift this autumn. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the weighted national average of the fiscal 2026 regional minimum wage increases is set at 1,177 yen — up 56 yen from the current 1,121 yen — with the new rates taking effect on a rolling basis from October through early December, depending on the region. The gap between average job-posting wages and the legal minimum may narrow as a result, but if the on-site labor shortage persists, companies are expected to keep competing to offer above-minimum pay for now.