When MUFG Bank and Nippon Life announced they would eliminate administrative job categories staffed almost exclusively by women, they took a rare, concrete step in Japan’s struggle to close its persistent gender gap at work. These roles, long associated with lower pay and limited prospects, have now been folded into broader career tracks, opening new paths for female employees who were previously sidelined. Whether those paths produce lasting gains will depend on access to training and promotion, backed by comparable evaluation standards.
The urgency behind these reforms is clear. Recruit Works Institute projects a labor shortfall of about 3.41 million workers by 2030, rising to approximately 11 million by 2040, around 24% of projected labor demand. The forecast reflects an aging population and a low birth rate, alongside the challenge of expanding the workforce through greater participation by women and older people, as well as more foreign workers. Expected gaps are especially pronounced in care and retail, along with driving and construction, while some clerical and professional fields may face smaller shortages or temporary surpluses.
Pay Gap Remains Stubborn
Despite these changes, Japan’s gender pay gap remains among the widest in the developed world. The latest Basic Survey on Wage Structure puts average monthly salaries at 373,400 yen for men and 285,900 yen for women, meaning women earn 76.6% of men’s average. The figure rose from 74.8% in 2023 to 75.8% in 2024 and 76.6% in 2025, but the gap remains impressive. The OECD estimates Japan’s gender wage gap at 21.3%, the fourth highest among its member countries.
These measures capture different things. The monthly salary ratio is not interchangeable with annual-income statistics, which are also shaped by employment type and hours, as well as tenure and occupation. A separate summary of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data puts average annual earnings at ¥5.97 million for men and ¥3.42 million for women. Neither aggregate comparison, on its own, establishes unequal pay for identical work; both reflect the broader distribution of workers across jobs and levels.
The disparity reflects seniority and age, along with working hours, job category and the scarcity of women in management. Women’s concentration in lower-paid, non-career-track positions has been a major driver. Tokyo Electron has attributed its overall wage difference largely to men’s greater representation in higher grades, while stating that pay does not differ within the same job group and grade. The number of Japanese female managers at the company rose from 46 in fiscal 2021 to 96 in fiscal 2025; women in senior management increased from 10 to 26. The figures show how representation at higher levels can affect aggregate pay outcomes.
Corporate Overhaul: MUFG and Nippon Life
MUFG Bank’s decision to abolish its BS category, which focused on teller and administrative duties, directly addressed these structural inequalities. The bank acknowledged that the category was predominantly female and paid less than the general career track. Since April 2025, all employees have fallen under a single professional category, theoretically giving women the same advancement opportunities as their male colleagues.
Nippon Life followed suit, scrapping an administrative category that was almost entirely female. When the changes were announced, internal data showed that women at MUFG earned, on average, just 50% of men’s pay; at Nippon Life, the figure was even lower, at 39%. These figures reflect the overall workforce, shaped by women’s historic concentration in lower-level jobs, rather than direct pay comparisons for identical roles.
Demographic Pressures Lead Change
The scale of Japan’s labor crisis is stark. The workforce is expected to shrink from 65.87 million in 2022 to 57.68 million by 2040, while demand for workers will remain close to 68.68 million. Without impressive economic growth or a dramatic shift in immigration policy, the gap will widen, making it impressive for companies to attract and retain female talent.
As the labor market tightens, competitive pay and real promotion prospects, alongside a better work-life balance, will determine whether more women stay in regular employment. Regular employment among Japanese women currently peaks at 60.3% between ages 25 and 29, then drops sharply as many shift to temporary or part-time work after having children, a pattern the government calls the “L-curve.”
Flexible Work and Policy Experiments
Some public-sector employers are responding with more flexible work arrangements. Since April 2025, Tokyo’s metropolitan government has allowed staff to compress their workweek and take three days off, while offering up to two hours of daily leave to employees with children. These measures currently apply only to government workers, not the broader private sector.
Japanese banks are also reassessing which administrative tasks need to remain human-operated. Mizuho Financial Group has said artificial intelligence could take on work equivalent to about 5,000 administrative positions over a decade, roughly one-third of its clerical staff in Japan. The plan is to move employees into sales and customer-facing roles rather than dismiss them. Clerical work is among the occupational groups most exposed to automation, making redeployment and training, along with access to comparable career tracks, basic to whether workplace restructuring expands chance.
Japan has not mandated immediate pay equality, but major employers’ dismantling of outdated job categories signals a shift in corporate culture. The test will be whether these changes bring lasting improvements in pay and promotion, as well as retention for women, outcomes that will be critical as Japan confronts its demographic reckoning.
Talent24h reports that other companies facing similar pressures are closely watching these reforms as a potential model. If successful, they could change how Japan puts the skills and ambitions of its female workforce to use.
