As of the end of March 2005, the total number of construction business permit holders in Japan calculated in accordance with the Construction Industry Law, comprised of holders of permits from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (persons that operate construction businesses with business offices established in two or more prefectures; hereafter referred to as "Ministerial Permit Holders") and holders of permits from a prefectural governor (persons that operate construction businesses in one prefecture; hereafter referred to as "Gubernatorial Permit Holders"), was 562,661, an increase of 3,804 permit holders compared with the previous fiscal year. The reason for the increase is thought to be that despite the fact that all permits would lose their validity during the renewal period if a company did not file a notice of discontinuation when business operations where discontinued, revision of the Construction Industry Law (came into effect in December 1994) saw the term of permit validity extended from 3 to 5 years, and therefore persons holding a permit from before revision of the law did not fall within the renewal period and did not have their permits become invalid (see page 5 for reference; Table 1, PDF document).

 

Looking at the number of permit holders by prefecture, the prefectures with high numbers of permit holders are as follows (in descending order): Tokyo (50,978 businesses), Osaka (44,660 businesses), Kanagawa (30,500 businesses), Aichi (27,952 businesses), and Saitama (26,503 businesses).

On the other hand, the prefectures with low numbers are as follows (in ascending order): Tottori (2,836 businesses), Shimane (3,663 businesses), Kochi (3,808 businesses), Saga (3,920 businesses), and Tokushima (4,256 businesses; Table 2, PDF document).

 

There were 539,212 General Construction Business Permit holders and 51,176 Special Construction Business Permit holders. Compared with the same month last year, this represents an increase in both areas, with a 0.7% (3,641 businesses) increase for General Construction Businesses and a 0.4% (188 businesses) increase for Special Construction Businesses. Further breaking these permit holders down, 7,253 General Construction Businesses and 6,420 Special Construction Businesses were Ministerial Permit Holders and 531,959 General Construction Businesses and 44,756 Special Construction Businesses were Gubernatorial Permit Holders.

Compared with the same month last year, this represents an increase of 0.9% (+66 businesses) for General Construction Businesses and a decrease of 0.7% (-49 businesses) for Special Construction Businesses with Ministerial Permits and increases of 0.7% (+ 3,575 businesses) for General Construction Businesses and 0.5% (+ 237 businesses) for Special Construction Businesses with Gubernatorial Permits (Table 4, PDF document).

 

Note: The reason why addition of the numbers of General Construction Business Permit Holders and Special Construction Business Permit Holders does not produce the same number as the total number of Construction Business Permit Holders is that some businesses have both General Construction Business Permits and Special Construction Business Permits.

 

The total number of permits by business category was 1,475,094, a 1.8% increase compared with the same month the previous year.

The highest numbers were those for building construction work (208,333 businesses), scaffold and earthwork construction work (169,586 businesses), and public work (167,896 businesses). These three categories amount to 37% of the total. This rate decreased by 0.4 points compared with the previous year.

On the other hand, the categories with low numbers of permit businesses were waste facilities work (739 businesses), well drilling work (3,284 businesses), and thermal insulation work (9,141 businesses).

If we compare the numbers of permit holders by business category with the ones for the same month the previous year, we can see there were increases for all businesses other than landscape gardening and waste work, and the business categories with high increase rates are as follows (in descending order): thermal insulation (+5.5%), waterproofing (+4.7%), steel reinforcement (+4.5%), and glass (4.5%; Table 3, PDF document).

If we look at the number of permit holders by the number of permits held, there were 299,152 businesses with a permit for only one business category, which amounts to 53.2% of the total.

On the other hand, there were 263,509 businesses with permits for several categories, 46.8% of the total, and this represents a continuing trend from previous years.

Furthermore, there were 3 businesses with permits for all 28 categories, which is the same as the previous year (Table 6, PDF document).

 

If we look at the number of permit holders by the level of capital according to the levels with the most businesses, there were 149,377 businesses (26.5%) and 132,247 individuals (23.5%) at the 10 to 20 million JPY level, 130,323 businesses (23.2%) at the 3 to 5 million JPY level, 67,684 businesses (12.0%) at the 20 to 50 million JPY level, 64,564 businesses (11.5%) at the 5 to 10 million JPY level, 10,924 businesses (1.9%) at the 50 to 100 million JPY level, 3,086 businesses (0.5%) at the 100 to 300 million JPY level, 1,687 businesses (0.3%) at the 300 million to 1 billion JPY level, 1,189 businesses (0.2%) at the 1 to 10 billion JPY level, 895 businesses (0.2%) at the over 20 billion JPY level, 433 businesses (0.1%) at the over 10 billion JPY level, and 252 businesses (0.0%) at the 20 to 30 billion JPY level.

Compared with the same month last year, there were increases in the up to 2 million JPY level (+18.7%) and 2 to 3 million JPY level (+5.9%) and decreases in the over 10 billion JPY level (-0.7%) and 1 to 10 billion JPY level (-0.6%).

There were 424,019 legal entities with capital of up to 100 million JPY, an increase of 4,265 businesses compared with the previous year. This represents 75.4% of the total and is an increase of 0.3 points over the same month the previous year (Table 5, PDF document).

 

Within the number of permit holders, there were 128,491 so-called side business operators who operate other businesses besides their construction businesses. This represents 22.8% of the total and is an increase of 1,721 business compared with the same month the previous year. The ratio of side business operators rose by 0.1 points.

Categorized by Ministerial and Gubernatorial Permit, there were 6,780 businesses (63.9% side business operators) with Ministerial Permits and 121,711 businesses (22%) with Gubernatorial Permits. The ratio of side business operators holding Ministerial Business Permits was overwhelmingly high.

Furthermore, looking at the numbers of side business operators categorized by general construction and special construction businesses, there were 118,769 general construction businesses (22% side business operators) and 19,836 special construction businesses (38.8%; Table 6, PDF document).

 

Note: Based on extension of the period of permit validity from 3 to 5 years in compliance with revision of the Construction Industry Law (came into effect in December 1994), in 2004 (and 2005) there were holders of permits from before revision of the law that did not enter the renewal period.

 

●Table-1 Changes in the numbers of (registered) construction work permit holders

●Table-2 Number of permit holders in Japan

●Table-3 Changes in the numbers of permit holders by business category

●Table-4 Changes in the numbers of construction business permit holders (by general/special construction business)

●Table-5 Changes in the numbers and compositions of businesses by level of capital

●Table-6 Number of businesses (General Construction Businesses/Special Construction Businesses) by business category and by level of capital (Ministerial/Gubernatorial Permits)

●Changes in the numbers of permit holders and new and discontinued businesses

 

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