Drivers wanted: 2.58 openings per job seekerYet pay trails the all-occupation average

The job openings-to-applicants ratio (有効求人倍率) is the number of openings listed at Hello Work divided by the number of people looking for work there. Above 1, employers are short of people. In the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s statistics by occupation, “motor vehicle drivers,” which groups trucks, buses and taxis, has stayed high: 2.62 in FY2023, 2.61 in FY2024 and 2.58 in FY2025. In July 2026 it was 2.53.

Excluding part-time jobs, FY2025 rises to 2.79: the companies looking for full-time drivers find it hardest to fill them. By contrast, “carrying workers,” which includes warehouse work and delivery, stood at 1.08, about the same as all occupations (1.10). “Machine maintenance and repair workers,” which includes auto maintenance, was 4.04, even higher than driving.

Hello Work statistics do not give separate ratios for trucks, buses and taxis. MLIT puts the figures by industry at 3.50 for taxi services (2024), 2.12 for bus services (2024) and 2.18 for road freight (FY2023), but these use different definitions and cannot be compared directly with the figures above.

The gaps between prefectures are large. In FY2025 the ratio for motor vehicle drivers was highest in Nara (4.53), Tokyo (3.81), Aichi (3.57), Kyoto (3.39) and Toyama (3.31). It was lowest in Kochi (1.66), Tokushima (1.77), Iwate (1.78), Fukushima (1.87) and Hyogo (1.91).

These figures, however, count openings by the location of the Hello Work office that received them. Tokyo, where many companies post openings centrally from their head office, tends to come out high. Even if your own prefecture’s figure is low, look at openings in neighboring prefectures and anywhere within commuting distance.

What about pay? From MHLW’s Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査, 2025), we calculated “annualized pay” as 12 months of regular monthly pay plus annual bonuses. It is the average for full-time workers at companies with 10 or more employees, and not an official annual income figure.

Commercial large-truck drivers come to about ¥5.07 million, other truck drivers about ¥4.49 million, taxi drivers about ¥4.51 million and bus drivers about ¥4.53 million, all below about ¥5.46 million for all occupations. “Other carrying workers,” such as warehouse workers, come to about ¥4.07 million. Automotive maintenance and repair workers, meanwhile, earn about ¥5.04 million, with an average age of 40.6, more than 10 years younger than drivers.

Compared with the previous year (2024), large-truck pay rose from about ¥4.92 million and taxi pay from about ¥4.15 million. Bus pay fell from about ¥4.61 million, but this may partly reflect changes in the survey sample, so one year’s rise or fall says nothing about the trend.

Look inside the numbers and driving pay has a distinct shape. Commercial large-truck drivers’ monthly contractual pay is ¥387,000, but scheduled pay, excluding overtime and similar, is ¥306,000. The difference, about ¥80,000, is overtime and similar pay. For bus drivers, ¥65,000 of ¥328,000 a month falls outside scheduled pay. Monthly overtime was 33 hours for large trucks, 30 for buses and 23 for taxis.

Annual bonuses were ¥430,000 for large trucks, ¥590,000 for buses and just ¥198,000 for taxis, against ¥1.01 million for all occupations. Many taxi companies appear to include commission in monthly pay, but no statistic shows the share of each pay system.

From April 2024, driving jobs came under an overtime cap (960 hours a year). Because pay relied on overtime, there were concerns that the cap would cut take-home pay. On the other hand, MLIT’s figures show annual pay growth from 2021 to 2024 of 7.8% across all industries, against 49.3% for taxis, 14.6% for buses, 6.3% for large trucks and 1.4% for small and medium trucks. Taxi pay grew sharply; trucks have yet to catch up with the all-industry figure.

Annualized pay for large-truck drivers starts high, at about ¥4.46 million for ages 20–24, but levels off at about ¥5.2–5.3 million from the late 30s to the early 50s. For taxi drivers it is about ¥4.83 million for both 20–24 and 25–29, so age makes little difference. Automotive maintenance traces a curve that rises with experience, from about ¥3.61 million at 20–24 to about ¥5.98 million at 50–54.

Regional gaps are large too. For commercial large trucks, Hyogo (about ¥6.27 million) and Chiba (about ¥5.91 million) are high, and Okinawa (about ¥3.23 million) and Yamagata (about ¥3.95 million) low. Taxi pay is about ¥5.70 million in Tokyo and ¥4.79 million in Osaka, while some rural prefectures are below ¥3 million. Bus pay ranges from about ¥5.59 million in Kanagawa to ¥3.23 million in Aomori. Prefecture figures can swing in prefectures with small samples, so don’t read one year’s ranking as fixed.

The Basic Survey on Wage Structure covers employees of companies with 10 or more workers. It does not include self-employed people, such as contracted light-cargo drivers, or owner-operated taxis. The openings-to-applicants ratio likewise counts only openings and job seekers going through Hello Work, not those on job sites or at placement agencies.

The pay shown on Hello Work job listings (¥260,000 a month for full-time motor vehicle drivers, FY2025) is the average of base pay plus fixed monthly allowances, not what was actually paid. If a company interests you, ask on your visit for an example of actual monthly pay including overtime and commission.