Raising of the legal employment rate of disabled workers for private firms to 2.7% in July 2026 has drawn attention of businesses to the importance of having a diverse workforce. This article looks at the result of the Labor Ministry’s FY2025 survey on job placement for people with disabilities.
[1] New job-seeking applications by people with disabilities
Fiscal 2025 saw a record 278,136 new job-seeking applications by disabled people. The number has risen 3.7% from 268,107 in the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of disabled people who found employment stood at 115,178, falling by 0.4% from 115,609 a year ago. The decline was due to a fall in the employment with a contract (Type-A” continuous support for employment services).
Among new job-seeking applications, cases of people with mental disabilities has more than doubled to 165,316 from 80,579 ten years ago in 2015. The total number of people with mental disabilities who landed a job also reached a record 66,580, rising 1.6% from 65,518 a year earlier.
Figure: Trends in new job seeking applications and employment
Column chart: Hiring of people with mental disabilities
Blue: New job-seeking applications
Orange: New job-seeking applications by people with mental disabilities
[2] Employment situations by industries and work types
Among the total number of hiring (115,178 cases), employment in “medical and welfare services” accounted for 38.8% with 44,683 cases, followed by “manufacturing” with 13,375 and “services (those that cannot be classified into other sectors)” with 12,633.
By work types, the percentage of “transportation, cleaning, packing, etc.” was 29.5% with 33,991 cases, followed by “clerical work” with 29,874, “services” with 16,628, and “manufacturing processes” with 12,381. The ratio of “clerical work” was the highest among people with physical and mental disabilities, while “transportation, cleaning, packing, etc.” was most common for people with intellectual disabilities.
The Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers provides a reference service of disabled people’s employment in its website, showing cases of companies making creative efforts to employ workers with disabilities. The reference service is available for search by criteria, such as business types or the number of employees. Please make use of it in hiring workers with disabilities.
‘ Reference
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “Status of support for employment for disabled persons through the Public employment security office (Hello Work)”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_73694.html
The Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers, “Reference service of cases of hiring of disabled workers”
https://www.ref.jeed.go.jp/index.php
*This information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of the original article.
