NEW YORK: A survey by the Japan External Trade Organization showed Thursday that 54.5 pct of Japanese companies operating in the United States suffered year-on-year declines in sales over the past month amid the spread of the new coronavirus.

Of these firms, 44.3 pct saw sales fall by between 20 pct and less than 50 pct and 23.3 pct of them by 50 pct or more, according to the survey by JETRO's six offices in the United States.

The survey, conducted for three days through Wednesday, collected responses from 1,048 companies.

Some 95 pct of the companies are having employees work from home voluntarily or based on stay-at-home orders issued by state governments or other authorities.

More than half of them are concerned about a fall in productivity resulting from factors associated with teleworking, such as constraints on marketing activities and inadequate communications among workers.

To support employees' mental health, some companies are holding morning meetings or drinking parties online.

The survey also showed that 43.5 pct of companies designated as essential businesses by state governments are keeping employees work at offices. Some designated companies, however, have been forced to stop operations as customers halted production or demand fell.

About 70 pct of expatriate employees and some 60 pct of their family members remain in the United States despite the coronavirus pandemic, because of reasons such as the risk of getting infected during travel and children's school schedules.

JETRO set up help desks at its U.S. offices to support Japanese companies amid the virus crisis. "There is a long array of problems facing Japanese companies in the United States, such as gathering information about public support and issues related to labor and safety management," a JETRO official said.

JIJI Press