(にほん)

Japan

(どうろ)

Road; street

(びる)

building

(つくる)

to make

(こうじ)

construction work

(かいしゃ)

company

(はたらく)

to work

(ひと)

person / people

(たりる)

to be enough; to be sufficient

(しごと)

work, job

(わかい)

young

(すくない)

few, scarce

(げんば)

the site, the front line (of work)

(つづける)

to continue

(だんだん)

gradually

(へる)

to decrease / to diminish

(くに)

country; the government

(ちょうさ)

investigation; survey

(はんぶん)

half

(いじょう)

more than; beyond this

(こたえる)

to answer

(きゅうりょう)

salary, wages

(あげる)

to raise; to increase

(やすみ)

holiday, rest

(ふえる)

to increase; to grow

(あたらしい)

new

(しゃいん)

company employee

(あつめる)

to collect

(きかい)

machine

(ろぼっと)

robot

(つかう)

to use

(にんずう)

number of people; headcount

(がいこく)

foreign country

(くる)

to come

(しかし)

however, but

(じょうたい)

state, condition

(はし)

bridge

(なおす)

to fix; to repair

(おくれる)

to be late

(せんもんか)

expert, specialist

(かんきょう)

environment

(たいせつ)

important

(はなす)

to speak, talk

does not ~ (polite negative)

ません is the polite negative form of verbs. It negates the action in a formal/polite context.

because ~, due to ~

Gives the reason the benefit to students is large: specialists are the ones coaching.

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

according to ...

Cites a source of information. The noun before によると is the source. Often followed by a reported statement.

quotation particle と

と marks the quoted content before verbs like 言う, 答える and 話す. Both quoted remarks in this article — the survey answer and the expert's comment — are closed with 」と.

did ... (polite past)

Polite past tense of verbs. Formed with verb stem + ました. Used in formal or polite speech to describe completed actions.

doing things like ~ and ~

Lists representative actions among several. Implies there are other actions too. Used twice in this article.

try to ~; be about to ~

Expresses an attempt/intention. Used to say China 'was about to / trying to' tighten rare earth exports.

to make sure that, to ensure that

Expresses the goal of bringing about a certain state or preventing something. Formed with verb plain form + ようにする. Often used to describe efforts to ensure or prevent something.

if (conditional form)

The ば-form states the condition under which the result holds. 使えば、簡単には燃えません is the companies' claim: if special wood is used, it will not burn easily.

might ~, perhaps ~

Expresses possibility.

To come to want to ~

Combines the tai-form stem with なる to express a change in desire. The visitor came to want to know more about Toyama.

nominalizer (the act of ~)

Turns verbs into nouns — changing one's awareness (意識を変えること), not over-buying (買いすぎないこと), and using leftovers well (使うこと).

工事の仕事で働く人が足りない

Not enough people are working in construction jobs

日本では、道路やビルを作る工事の会社で、働く人が足りません。

In Japan, construction companies that build roads and buildings do not have enough workers.

若い人が少なくなったため、現場の仕事を続ける人がだんだん減っています。

Because the number of young people has fallen, the number of people who keep working on site is gradually decreasing.

国の調査によると、工事の会社の半分以上が「人が足りない」と答えました。

According to a national survey, more than half of construction companies answered that they "do not have enough people".

会社は、給料を上げたり、休みを増やしたりして、新しい社員を集めようとしています。

Companies are trying to recruit new employees by doing things like raising salaries and increasing days off.

機械やロボットを使って、少ない人数でも工事ができるようにする会社もあります。

There are also companies using machines and robots so that construction can be done even with few people.

外国から来て働く人も増えました。

The number of people who come from abroad to work has also increased.

しかし、人が足りない状態が続けば、道路や橋を直す工事が遅れるかもしれません。

However, if the shortage of workers continues, work to repair roads and bridges may be delayed.

専門家は「若い人が働きたくなるような環境を作ることが大切だ」と話しています。

An expert says, "It is important to create an environment that makes young people want to work."