This study reviews recent trends in Japanese female nursing staff. In particular, employment status, work environment and work consciousness are examined using anonymous, individual data from the “Employment Status Survey” by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Similar to other occupations, non-regular employment has been on the rise for female nurses. At first, the current growth in numbers of nurses and rate of nurse employment gives the appearance of an overall increase in nursing staff availability.
However, while workload and wages remain basically the same for non-regular staff, work environment and compensation have worsened for regular staff. Likewise, while the ratio of persons with a negative attitude toward work, such as a desire to switch jobs or leave their current job, remains unchanged for non-regular staff, it has increased for regular staff. This suggests a connection between work environment and work consciousness.
If this situation continues, the number of regular staffed nurses who play a central role may decrease and lead to another nursing shortage. Within this trend of increasing non-regular employment, the improvement of work environments must start by focusing on regular staff.

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Under the widespread awareness of the “shortage of nurses,” various measures have been taken to prevent the quitting jobs of nurses and to facilitate their continued working at the same facilities. A factor underlying such a trend is the recognition that the age distribution of nurses at hospitals does not depict an M-shaped curve, but shows a tendency towards decrease in the number of nurses with age increase over 30 years.
This tendency, however, does not apply to all prefectures of Japan. According to the data collected from Yamagata Prefecture, the age distribution of nurses depicts an M-shaped curve. In the present study, the age distribution of nurses in Yamagata Prefecture was analyzed in detail. The analysis revealed that although the number of nurses at acute-care hospitals in the central district of this prefecture tends to decrease with age increase over 30 years, the flow of nurses between different districts in the form of switching place of work or resuming work serves as an important path for supply of personnel to non-central districts, resulting in an M-shaped curve of the age distribution seen in the entire prefecture. The M-shaped curve of nurses' age distribution in Yamagata Prefecture is not an outcome of the measures taken for the prevention of job-quitting and facilitation of continued working at the same facilities.
The policy on nursing from now on should encompass not only measures to facilitate fixing of nursing staff (primarily at acute-care hospitals), but also measures related to providing support for nurses from the inter-facility viewpoint, covering movement of nurses between multiple facilities as well.

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