One of Yosuke Kobayashi¡¯s biggest headaches has been finding enough workers to build hotels, restaurants and bath houses for his construction company.
That was until the manager at construction company Luckland Co. found Sukedachi, a mobile app that connects contractors and tradespeople. Nowadays, he¡¯s hiring carpenters, painters and glaziers with just a few taps on his smartphone.
Japan is in the middle of a building boom, thanks to infrastructure projects, a shortage of hotel rooms and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics around the corner. That¡¯s fueling the tightest labor market in a generation, with 4.3 jobs available for every construction worker, according to the labor ministry. The industry is woefully inefficient; workers usually find gigs via referrals, word-of-mouth and printed job listings.
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