Preference for Young Workers in Mid-career Recruiting Using Online Ads for Sales Jobs: Evidence from Japan

This study uses an original dataset of online mid-career job ads for full-time sales jobs collected from July 2018 to December 2019 to examine the use of explicit and implied age limits on job applicants and the characteristics of firms that set them. Although Japanese law prohibits age discrimination in employment, several exemptions, such as hiring young workers without prior work experience on regular contracts, are allowed. Firms can set an age limit, require job-related experience, or search broadly; however, they can also express their age preference in other ways. In the sample, 24% of ads included explicit age limits generally capped at 35 years, 26% set experience requirements, and nearly all contained some form of implied age preference. Consistent with theoretical predictions, the results show that firms with higher capital, those with fewer employees, older firms and those located in urban centers tended to set requirements on applicants. Further, domestic firms, firms with fewer employees, in urban centers and firms using probation periods for new hires were more likely to set age limits. Moreover, firms setting either requirement did not seem to be sensitive to local labor market conditions. Firms searching broadly responded to population age-related increased wage expectations while reducing labor costs by increasing the number of working hours covered by a baseline wage.