The Japan Labor Flash No.13
Email Journal April 15, 2004
JILPT Information
Japan Labor Review
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
The proportion of corporations offering no annual wage increases
has risen by 25 percentage points over the past 4 years …etc
Public Policies
A Japanese-edition "dual system" is launched
News Clippings
Matsushita Electric Industrial to provide technical instructions
to SMEs …etc
Special Issue
The current status of working women in Japan
JILPT Information
New publication of a Journal
Our Institute started publishing "Japan Labor Review" (a quarterly
Journal, written in English) in January of this year. You can read
JLR on the net.
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/JLR.htm
Do you like to get a copy of JLR?
Then, please complete the application form therein and send it to us.
https://db.jil.go.jp/jlr/reg.htm
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports March 2004-
Features
The Result of Year-end Bonus negotiations among Major Private
Enterprises (2003)
Basic Survey on Business Structure and Activities (2003) ...etc
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2004/e2004-03.htm
Current Topics
-The proportion of corporations offering no annual wage increases
has risen by 25 percentage points over the past 4 years-
In March, the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development
released the findings of its survey on changes in Japanese personnel
systems.
The survey was conducted from November 2003 to early January 2004,
and the questions were sent to all the companies listed in Section 1
of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Responses were sent in by 251 companies
(response rate: 9.7%).
This year's survey found that 37.8% of the companies had offered
no annual wage increases for either managerial or non-managerial
posts, up 25 percentage points from the survey conducted four years
ago, in 2000 (12.8%). Even among those companies that currently
implement annual wage increases, about 30% said that they planned
to abolish the system in the near future.
More companies (40.6%) now include departmental performance as a
factor in their employee wage systems. Of these, more than half also
apply it to non-managerial posts, with 64.3% targeting mid-level
workers (corresponding to section heads and subsection chiefs) and
53.6% apply it to the rank and file. These findings reveal the fact,
overall, that the introduction of merit-based systems is steadily
making its way into non-managerial posts.
-Low rate of employees taking paid holidays in the wholesale, retail
and restaurant sectors-
In March, the Tokyo Labour Bureau compiled information about to what
extent employees of corporations whose head offices are based in Tokyo
take their paid vacations. According to their findings, the average
rate of employees who took paid vacations in 2002 or during FY2002 was
42.5%. One out of every three companies had a rate of below 30%, with
61.5% of the wholesale, retail, and restaurant sector companies and
46.9% of the banking and insurance sector companies showing these low
rates. Of special note was that 20.8% of the wholesale, retail, and
restaurant sector companies see less than 10% of their employees taking
paid holidays.
Meanwhile, 12.3% of the companies saw the rate of their employees
taking paid holidays exceed 70%, while 29.1% of the companies said
that they had a program for systematically granting paid holidays.
The rate of such companies' employees taking paid holidays was 44.2%.
The survey was conducted targeting 4,000 companies with 300 or more
employees, whose head office was based in metropolitan Tokyo. A total
of 786 companies sent in valid responses (response rate: 19.7%).
Public Policies
-A Japanese-edition "dual system" is launched-
In April, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare launched a
Japanese-edition "dual system" that integrates vocational training
at schools with corporate internships. The aim is to make it into
a core program for assisting young people to find employment.
The program will first provide short-term training, lasting less
than six months, at 53 private-sector, government-commissioned
vocational training institutions, hoping to take in about 1,000
people. Then, beginning in October, long-term classes lasting one
to three years will be held at public and other vocational training
institutions.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.13/dualsystem.html
News Clippings
-Matsushita Electric Industrial to provide technical instructions
to SMEs-
Matsushita Electric Industrial will begin providing technical
instruction to SMEs via approximately 100 in-house "Manufacturing
experts" who are specialized in making various items. These experts
will directly teach manufacturing skills and technologies once a year
to about 10 SMEs requesting such instruction. Matsushita reportedly
will agree, in principle, to provide instruction even to companies
that are affiliated with its rival companies. The idea is that
upgrading Japan's manufacturing sector will benefit Matsushita's
business in the long run.
Manufacturing experts are given the title of "highly experienced
technicians" which the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare began
certifying in FY1998. About 3,700 technicians nationwide, representing
slightly fewer than 30 types of businesses, including automobiles,
semiconductors, steel, and precision machinery, are certified as such.
Matsushita has about 100 such technicians, and about 10 of these people
will serve as "teachers" providing instruction to SMEs.
(Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, March)
-East Japan Railway Company to assist female workers' reemployment-
The East Japan Railway Company (JR East) announced that they would
begin implementing in April a program to help their women employees
work and raise their children at the same time. This includes a system
for assisting the reemployment of female workers who had resigned for
reasons of marriage or childbirth.
Under the program, the period of maternal leave will be extended,
and a system of offering monetary assistance for childcare will be
launched, providing 5,000 yen each month until the child enters
elementary school. The number of large-scale companies that have
adopted positive measures (affirmative action programs) to employ
and promote women has been increasing. However, JR East is the first
railway company in Japan to carry out full-scale programs to support
female employees.
The program targets employees with three or more years of service
with the company. If they quit the company because of marriage,
delivery of a child, child rearing, or the relocation of their spouse,
they will be asked if they wish to be reemployed in the future, and
if so, to register their preferences.
In their plan for the spring of 2005 and thereafter, JR East will
set the numerical goal of raising the proportion of new female
recruits to over 20%, although it has been steadily increasing, from
14.9% in the spring of 2003 to 18.9% in 2004.
(Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, March)
Special Issue
-The current status of working women in Japan-
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published the 2003 edition
of "The Actual Status of Working Women," which revealed the
situation
today's working women find themselves in. The main issues are as follows:
1. The participation rate of women in the labor force (the proportion
accounted for in the population of the labor force aged 15 and
older) in 2003 dropped 0.2% over the previous year to 48.3%,
registering a decrease for the 6th continuous year.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.13/workingwomen.html
