UPDATE:
As of spring 2.5.0, you should use spring.batch.jdbc.initialize-schema
instead. See source.
With Spring Boot 2.0 you probably need this:
https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/2.0.0.M7/reference/htmlsingle/#howto-initialize-a-spring-batch-database
spring.batch.initialize-schema=always
By default it will only create the tables if you are using an embedded database.
Or
spring.batch.initialize-schema=never
To permanently disable it.