Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Japan

Japan: Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment was 61,850 Persons in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
61,850 Persons
Change on year
up 1.0%
World rank
4th
of 33 countries
All-time high
61,850 Persons
in 2025
All-time low
17,780 Persons
in 1955
Years of data
71
1955–2025

Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Japan, 1955–2025

20.0k30.0k40.0k50.0k60.0k195519902025

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Persons.

Analysis

In 2025, number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Japan stood at 61,850 Persons. That is the highest value across all 71 years on record.

That represents a change of up 1.0% on the previous year and up 9.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Japan peaked at 61,850 Persons in 2025 and was at its lowest, 17,780 Persons, in 1955.

Japan ranks 4th of 33 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 71 years of available data.

Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Japan, year by year

Annual values for Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Japan, 1955 to 2025.
Year Persons Change
1955 17,780 Persons
1956 19,130 Persons +7.6%
1957 20,530 Persons +7.3%
1958 21,390 Persons +4.2%
1959 22,500 Persons +5.2%
1960 23,700 Persons +5.3%
1961 24,780 Persons +4.6%
1962 25,930 Persons +4.6%
1963 26,720 Persons +3.0%
1964 27,630 Persons +3.4%
1965 28,760 Persons +4.1%
1966 29,940 Persons +4.1%
1967 30,710 Persons +2.6%
1968 31,480 Persons +2.5%
1969 31,990 Persons +1.6%
1970 33,060 Persons +3.3%
1971 34,120 Persons +3.2%
1972 34,650 Persons +1.6%
1973 36,150 Persons +4.3%
1974 36,370 Persons +0.6%
1975 36,460 Persons +0.2%
1976 37,120 Persons +1.8%
1977 37,690 Persons +1.5%
1978 37,990 Persons +0.8%
1979 38,760 Persons +2.0%
1980 39,710 Persons +2.5%
1981 40,370 Persons +1.7%
1982 40,980 Persons +1.5%
1983 42,080 Persons +2.7%
1984 42,650 Persons +1.4%
1985 43,130 Persons +1.1%
1986 43,790 Persons +1.5%
1987 44,280 Persons +1.1%
1988 45,380 Persons +2.5%
1989 46,790 Persons +3.1%
1990 48,350 Persons +3.3%
1991 50,020 Persons +3.5%
1992 51,190 Persons +2.3%
1993 52,020 Persons +1.6%
1994 52,360 Persons +0.7%
1995 52,630 Persons +0.5%
1996 53,220 Persons +1.1%
1997 53,910 Persons +1.3%
1998 53,680 Persons -0.4%
1999 53,310 Persons -0.7%
2000 53,560 Persons +0.5%
2001 53,690 Persons +0.2%
2002 53,310 Persons -0.7%
2003 53,350 Persons +0.1%
2004 53,550 Persons +0.4%
2005 53,930 Persons +0.7%
2006 54,720 Persons +1.5%
2007 55,230 Persons +0.9%
2008 55,240 Persons +0.0%
2009 54,600 Persons -1.2%
2010 54,630 Persons +0.1%
2011 52,440 Persons -4.0%
2012 55,040 Persons +5.0%
2013 55,530 Persons +0.9%
2014 55,950 Persons +0.8%
2015 56,400 Persons +0.8%
2016 57,290 Persons +1.6%
2017 58,190 Persons +1.6%
2018 59,360 Persons +2.0%
2019 60,040 Persons +1.1%
2020 59,730 Persons -0.5%
2021 59,730 Persons +0.0%
2022 60,410 Persons +1.1%
2023 60,760 Persons +0.6%
2024 61,230 Persons +0.8%
2025 61,850 Persons +1.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 20,266 Persons 17,780 Persons 22,500 Persons 5
1960s 28,164 Persons 23,700 Persons 31,990 Persons 10
1970s 36,237 Persons 33,060 Persons 38,760 Persons 10
1980s 42,916 Persons 39,710 Persons 46,790 Persons 10
1990s 52,069 Persons 48,350 Persons 53,910 Persons 10
2000s 54,118 Persons 53,310 Persons 55,240 Persons 10
2010s 56,487 Persons 52,440 Persons 60,040 Persons 10
2020s 60,618 Persons 59,730 Persons 61,850 Persons 6

Countries ranked near Japan

  1. 1 United States of America 151,352 Persons compare
  2. 1 Türkiye 23,366 Persons compare
  3. 2 Poland 13,946 Persons compare
  4. 2 Brazil 71,469 Persons compare
  5. 3 Netherlands 8,290 Persons compare
  6. 3 Russian Federation 65,833 Persons compare
  7. 3 Croatia 1,478 Persons compare
  8. 4 Lithuania 1,294 Persons compare
  9. 5 Mexico 41,026 Persons compare
  10. 5 Slovenia 858.15 Persons compare
  11. 6 Germany 38,822 Persons compare
  12. 6 Latvia 755.08 Persons compare
  13. 7 Estonia 615.5 Persons compare
  14. 7 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 29,586 Persons compare

See the full ranking of 43 places →

More work & labour data for Japan

All data for Japan →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Japan?
Number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment in Japan was 61,850 Persons in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
What is the highest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Japan?
The highest recorded value was 61,850 Persons in 2025.
What is the lowest number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment recorded in Japan?
The lowest recorded value was 17,780 Persons in 1955.
How does Japan rank for number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment?
Japan ranks 4th out of 33 countries with data for 2025.
Is number of employees by activities (isic rev. 4) — employment rising or falling in Japan?
Over the last ten years it is up 9.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Japan data come from?
The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment in Japan. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 05 September 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-employees-by-activities-isic-rev-4-employment/japan/

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About this data

Indicator
Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4) — Employment
Unit
Persons
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
43 places, 2,002 data points, 1955–2025
Last refreshed

The dataflow "Number of employees by activities (ISIC Rev. 4)" is a subset of the “Employment by activites and status (ALFS)” dataset which presents annual labour force statistics for OECD member countries, Brazil and 4 geographical areas (Major Seven, Euro zone, European Union and OECD-Total). This dataflow shows the number of employees broken down by economic activities (ISIC Rev. 4). Economic activities are defined according to the Major divisions of the International standard International Classification (ISIC) Rev. 4 with the exception of the United-States wich compiled since 2003, employment data by sector following the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); NAICS sector are then proxied to ISIC Rev. 4 and are therefore not strictly comparable with other countries’ data. The professional status is defined in the International Classification by status in Employment (ICSE-1993). Data are presented in thousands of persons, or as indices with base year 2015=100. Annual data in this dataset are typically calculated as averages of infra-annual estimates. This can lead to differences with annual data published by National Statistics Institutes. Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 2 are also available from 1970 to 2014 Historical data of employment statistics defined according to ISIC Rev. 3 are available from 1983 to 2023. Data for Canada are currently only available in ISIC Rev. 3