Overtime (monthly average)
16 hrs
Mechanical and electrical engineers. All occupations: 11 hrs(MHLW)
Share of women
About 10%
Mechanical engineers 9.7%, electrical-electronic engineers 9.9%(MHLW)
Turnover rate, manufacturing
9.8%
2025. All industries: 13.7%(MHLW)
01The work
| Mechanical design | Concept design of products, equipment and jigs, detailed design in 3D CAD, strength calculations, drawings, prototype evaluation. |
|---|---|
| Electrical / electronic design | Circuit and PCB design, control panels and sequence (PLC) design, embedded software, safety standards and noise countermeasures. |
| Production engineering | Launching mass-production lines, process design, specifying and installing equipment, automation and labor saving, improving yield and takt time. |
Design departments at finished-product makers, build-to-order equipment makers, design contractors and engineering staffing firms, parts makers, and so on — how much you deal with clients and where you work changes accordingly (author’s summary).
02Job demand
Design and development have many openings, while the “excluding development” category — production and manufacturing engineering — has more job seekers than openings. Engineers are often hired through private agencies and job sites, so Hello Work ratios alone don’t show the whole picture.
REF / Sources
- 一般職業紹介状況（長期時系列表 第21表）・雇用関係指標（年度） — Employment Referrals for General Workers (long-term time series, Table 21) and annual employment indicators (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), released May and Aug 2026 (FY2025 figures))Jobs-to-applicants ratio (有効求人倍率) for regular jobs at Hello Work, including part-time; not seasonally adjusted. Does not include openings on private job sites or through recruitment agencies.
03Pay (estimated annual pay)
By age, mechanical engineers earn about ¥5.05M at 25–29 and about ¥8.42M at 55–59. These categories do not separate design, production engineering and research.
REF / Sources
- 令和7年賃金構造基本統計調査 — Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (full-time workers, by occupation) (MHLW, published Mar 2026)Full-time (general) workers at companies with 10+ employees, men and women combined. The "estimated annual pay" is our own calculation — monthly scheduled cash earnings × 12 + annual bonuses — not an official annual income figure.
04Qualifications and licenses
- No license is required for the work
- Design and production engineering aren’t jobs you need a qualification to do. Experience and the tools you can use (CAD, etc.) count most.
- Professional Engineer（技術士）: mechanical, electrical-electronic and other fields
- A national title-protected qualification. Valued in technical consulting and public-sector projects.
- CAD Engineer Certification Test（CAD利用技術者試験）, Mechanical Design Engineer Test（機械設計技術者試験）
- Private qualifications. There are courses for the CAD test that qualify for the Education and Training Benefit（教育訓練給付）.
- Chief Electrical Engineer, 3rd class（電験三種）
- Needed for safety supervision of power receiving and transforming equipment. Not required for design jobs.
REF / Sources
- 第三種電気主任技術者試験の試験結果と推移 — Chief Electrical Engineer, 3rd class: exam results and trends (一般財団法人電気技術者試験センター (Electrical engineer examination center), FY2025)
05Rules at work
Overtime cap（時間外労働の上限規制）
Applies as it does for other jobs (large companies from April 2019, SMEs from April 2020). Research and development of new technologies and products is exempt from the cap (though measures such as interviews with a doctor are still required).
REF: MHLW, “時間外労働の上限規制（働き方改革特設サイト） — Overtime cap (Work Style Reform website)”
06Who it suits
A rough guide based on the work itself. Even if these don’t describe you, it can be worth finding out on a visit or trial shift.
- You like designing how things work and explaining it to others with drawings and data
- You want to solve problems on the shop floor by improving equipment and processes
- You don’t mind constantly learning new tools and standards
07What to check on a visit or trial shift
CHECKLIST / Design & production engineering (tick as you go)
What to bring and wear, and the points common to every job, are in the how-to guide.
REF / Sources for this page
- 一般職業紹介状況（長期時系列表 第21表）・雇用関係指標（年度） — Employment Referrals for General Workers (long-term time series, Table 21) and annual employment indicators (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), released May and Aug 2026 (FY2025 figures))Jobs-to-applicants ratio (有効求人倍率) for regular jobs at Hello Work, including part-time; not seasonally adjusted. Does not include openings on private job sites or through recruitment agencies.
- 令和7年賃金構造基本統計調査 — Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (full-time workers, by occupation) (MHLW, published Mar 2026)Full-time (general) workers at companies with 10+ employees, men and women combined. The "estimated annual pay" is our own calculation — monthly scheduled cash earnings × 12 + annual bonuses — not an official annual income figure.
- 第三種電気主任技術者試験の試験結果と推移 — Chief Electrical Engineer, 3rd class: exam results and trends (一般財団法人電気技術者試験センター (Electrical engineer examination center), FY2025)
- 令和7年雇用動向調査結果の概況 — Survey on Employment Trends 2025, summary (MHLW, published Aug 31, 2026)
- 時間外労働の上限規制（働き方改革特設サイト） — Overtime cap (Work Style Reform website) (MHLW, applies from Apr 2019 (large companies) and Apr 2020 (SMEs))
NEXT → VISIT / TRIAL SHIFT
Design & production engineering:
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