Survey Reveals High Overtime Rates Among Japanese Doctors, Despite Work Reforms

Around 20% of Japanese doctors are reportedly working overtime for more than 960 hours a year, a level deemed at risk of overwork-related death. This finding comes from a survey conducted by Japan’s health ministry research team in July 2022. Responses were collected from 19,879 doctors at 5,424 hospitals across Japan, with a focus on 11,466 full-time doctors.

The survey revealed that 20.4% of full-time doctors worked over 60 hours per week, surpassing the 40-hour legal weekly limit translating to over 960 hours annually. Doctors in neurosurgery departments were the most likely to exceed this threshold (36.6%), followed by emergency departments (32.3%), surgical departments (29.7%), and obstetrics and gynecology departments (28%).

Encouragingly, the survey also highlighted that work-style reforms have been helping reduce excessive working hours among doctors, compared to a 2019 survey. The proportion of doctors working 60-70 hours weekly decreased from 18.9% to 12.1%, and those working 70-80 hours dropped from 10.4% to 5.4%. Concurrently, doctors working less than 40 hours weekly increased from 13.7% to 22.5%, while those working 40-50 hours grew from 22.3% to 32.7%.