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    TOKYO, April 19 (Reuters) - Japanese companies see the country on track to suffer a fourth round of coronavirus infections,
with many bracing a further blow to business, a Reuters monthly poll showed.
    Below are the questions and answers in the poll, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research during April 2-13. Answers are
denoted in percentages. The poll and reply totals are in absolute terms. About 240 companies responded to the survey.

1. Japan has lagged behind other G7 nations in coronavirus vaccinations. Do you expect the fourth wave of infections to occur?  
 
                       Yes          No        Polled     Replied
 All                       96%          4%         482         235
 Manufacturers             98%          2%         246         131
 Non-manufacturers         93%          7%         236         104
 2. If you say yes to Q1, when do you expect the fourth wave of infections to peak? (Pick one)
                      April        May         June        July     August or later    Polled     Replied
 All                       22%         65%         10%          2%               2%         482         221
 Manufacturing             21%         67%          9%          2%               2%         246         126
 Non-manufacturers         23%         62%         11%          2%               2%         236          95
 3. If the fourth wave of emergency leads to an issuance of a state of emergency, how would your sales be impacted? (Pick one)
                    Undershooting  Undershooti  Unchanged   Overshooting  Overshooting   Polled      Replied
                    considerably   ng somewhat                somewhat    considerably              
 All                          11%          48%         41%            1%            0%         482         237
 Manufacturers                 5%          47%         47%            1%            0%         246         131
 Non-manufacturers            17%          48%         34%            1%            0%         236         106
 4. Has the coronavirus pandemic forced your company to change hiring plans for the fiscal 2022/23 compared to this fiscal year?
(Pick one)
                    Freeze   More   30%-50%  10%-30%  Less than  Flat  Less   10%-30%  30%-50%   More     More   Polled  Replied
                    hiring   than    cuts     cuts    10% cuts         than    gain     gain     than     than           
                            halved                                      10%                       50%    double          
                                                                       gain                      gain                    
 All                    4%      2%       2%       6%         4%   72%     4%       4%       0%       0%      1%     482      232
 Manufacturers          2%      3%       2%       6%         7%   71%     4%       2%       1%       0%      2%     246      126
 Non-manufacturers      7%      1%       1%       6%         1%   73%     5%       7%       0%       0%      1%     236      106
 5. Have you carried out lay-offs or are you considering doing so due to coronavirus-induced slumping business results? 
                       Yes          No        Polled     Replied
 All                        7%         93%         482         237
 Manufacturers              6%         94%         246         130
 Non-manufacturers          7%         93%         236         107
 6. Have you adopted or are you considering adopting a job-focused hiring system aimed at evaluating workers based on their
skills, while ditching a traditional mass hiring of new university graduates? (Pick one)
                    Yes, adopted  Considering  Neither adopted nor   Adopted once before   Polled      Replied
                                                   considering         but abolished                  
 All                         11%          30%                   59%                   0%         482         234
 Manufacturers                7%          32%                   61%                   0%         246         128
 Non-manufacturers           15%          27%                   58%                   0%         236         106
 7. Does your company allow employees to have a side business or a second job? (Pick one)
                       Yes      Considering      No       Polled      Replied
 All                       15%           5%         80%         482         238
 Manufacturers             13%           6%         81%         246         131
 Non-manufacturers         17%           4%         79%         236         107
 8. If you say yes to above question, how many employees have a side business or a second job? (Pick one)
                    Below 10%    10%-20%     20%-30%     30%-40%     40%-50%    50% or more    Polled     Replied
 All                       97%          0%          3%          0%          0%           0%         482          32
 Manufacturers             93%          0%          7%          0%          0%           0%         246          14
 Non-manufacturers        100%          0%          0%          0%          0%           0%         236          18
 
 (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto. Editing by Gerry Doyle)