Toyota’s far east market is picking up as it hires 800 contract workers in Japan, its first increase in jobs in more than a year.
The Japanese carmaker said the move was due to higher demand for its Prius petrol-electric hybrid in Japan, reported BBC News.
Toyota now employs 1,300 contract workers in Japan, who are distinct from 70,000 full-time workers that have guaranteed lifetime employment.
It had stopped employing contractors last June in response to the global downturn in automotive sales.
The Prius, launched in 1997, is now in its third generation. By the end of April, Toyota had sold 1,028,000 of the cars worldwide, more than half of them in North America.
At its peak in 2005, Toyota employed over 11,600 contract workers - who are hired for fixed periods of employment.