The Japan Labor Flash
No.24
Email Journal October 1, 2004
JILPT Information
JILPT Foreign Researcher Invitation Program for FY 2005
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
More than one million subscribe defined contribution pension plan
…etc
Public Policies
Seventy percent of labor unions seeing a fall in membership …etc
News Clippings
Sixty percent of retired employees are hesitant to investment:
they save most of their retirement allowances …etc
Special Issue
Realization of affluent living through improved quality of employment,
an issue raised by the White Paper on Labour Economy 2004
JILPT Information
Information on JILPT Foreign Researcher Invitation Program for FY 2005
1. Purpose
This program invites foreign researchers to Japan and provides
them with opportunities for conducting research on labor policy
and labor issues in Japan, with the ultimate goal of improving
the quality of labor policy research in Japan.
2. Programs
Program types:
1) Long-term invitation program: 1-12 months
2) Short-term invitation program: Less than 1 month
Expenses
Travel, living and other expenses will be covered.
Requirements:
1) Must conduct research on Japanese labor policies or other
labor issues.
2) Must submit a research report to the JILPT at the end of
their stay.
3) Must be affiliated with a labor research institute or
university (excluding graduate students)
4) Must possess adequate command of Japanese or English
5) Must conduct research and remain with the JILPT
6) Must be in good enough health to carry out and complete
intended studies
3. Application deadline
Applications are accepted annually. We are currently accepting
applications for FY 2005 (April 2005 to March 2006). If you would
like to apply for this fiscal year, please submit your application
documents by December 10, 2004.
For more details, please refer to:
Application Process for the Foreign Researcher Invitation Program
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/Invitation.htm
International Affairs Department (Invitation)
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200410/index.htm
-TANKAN-
Short-term Economic Survey of Entreprises in Japan
-October 1, Friday, released by the Bank of Japan
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/stat/tk/tk0409.htm
Current Topics
-More than one million subscribe defined contribution pension plan-
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare found that
the number of subscribers to the defined contribution pension plan,
which is regarded as the Japanese version of 401K, exceeded 1 million
people as of the end of June 2004, only two and a half years after
the program was launched.
This number corresponds to roughly 10% of all subscribers to
employee pension programs which are run mostly by large corporations.
As we have reported in our previous issues, when it started,
the majority of subscribers to this pension plan were large-scale
corporations such as Toyota Motor that were burdened with huge pension
debts. Since deregulation is set to be introduced this October,
including the raising of the upper limit on installment payments,
the program is expected to be taken up by an even greater number of
corporations.
-Rengo and the industrial unions demand that stores voluntarily
refrain from doing business on New Year's Day-
In early September, Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation),
the Japan Federation of Service and Distributive Workers Unions and
the Japanese Federation of Textile, Chemical, Food, Commercial,
Service and General Workers' Unions, which are federations of unions
covering the service and distribution sectors, filed a request to
the Japan Department Stores Association, the Japan Supermarkets
Association, and other relevant industrial organizations, asking
department stores and supermarkets to voluntarily close on New Year's
Day. At the same time, they called on the associations to obtain the
understanding and consensus of their member enterprises, and requested
that labor-management consultations be increased in this sector.
The answers sent in to these requests included the following:
(1) "Since human resources are assets in this industry, we want to
conduct detailed discussions as to how employees can fully demonstrate
their capabilities, and although individual decisions lie with member
companies, we want to provide information on corporate social
responsibilities and fair trade." (2) "Although doing business
on
New Year's Day is in itself undesirable, some stores decide to do
so unwillingly for management reasons such as competition with other
stores, etc. It appears that doing business on New Year's Day cannot
be stopped unless a law regulates it. However, we will report, at
the Board of Directors' meeting, on the content of requests made."
(3) "We totally support this request. We are making efforts not to
do business on New Year's Day, at the very least."
Japan regards "bon", a Buddhist festival period in August, and
New
Year's Day as special days of the year. New Year's Day, in particular,
remains an all-important day of celebration for the Japanese.
Reduction in working time is supposed to be an important challenge
for both labor and management. Still, with the deceleration of the
economy, a growing number of department stores and supermarkets have
recently been opening their stores for business on January 1.
Public Policies
-Seventy percent of labor unions seeing a fall in membership-
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have announced the results
of their fact-finding survey on labor unions which it holds once every
5 years.
The survey targeted approximately 4,800 unions nationwide that have
30 or more members, and was held in June 2003. A total of 3,144 unions
sent in their answers.
The ministry found that 68.8% of labor unions had lower membership
than three years ago, which was 10.2 percentage points more than in
the previous survey. The chief reason (multiple answers) for declining
membership was that companies were holding back on hiring full-time
employees, cited by 73.1% of the respondents. This was followed by
"Withdrawal of memberships due to mandatory retirement" (65.5%)
and
"Withdrawal of individuals who retired for company circumstances,
including early retirement with preferential allowances" (31.3%).
Compared with three years ago, 53.7% of labor unions (up 11.0
percentage points from the previous survey) are suffering from worse
financial status due to declining membership.
The survey also revealed that, despite these circumstances, only
25% of the labor unions cited expansion of the organization as
important tasks of their union activities. Of these, 34% said that
they targeted part-time employees as targets whom they would encourage
to join the union, and only 17% included contract workers as potential
members.
-The government appropriates \81 billion for unemployment programs
targeting youths-
In September, the government held a strategic conference on the
independence and challenges facing young people, which was
participated in by relevant Cabinet ministers. They decided to
incorporate a total of 81 billion yen into the FY2005 budget request
as measures to promote the hiring of "freeters," or job-hopping
youths
whose number continues to increase.
As relevant policies, the government decided to implement a number
of activities to help young people gain a better understanding of work
and jobs. These include a program allowing young people, mostly junior
high school students, to experience working at companies and other
places of work for 5 or more days, and the introduction of a tax system
that allows corporations to deduct part of the expenses related to
human resource development.
US$=\110 (October 1, 2004)
News Clippings
-Sixty percent of retired employees are hesitant to investment:
they save most of their retirement allowances-
An awareness survey on retirees conducted by Nihon Keizai Shimbun
targeting individuals aged 50 to 69 has revealed that roughly 60%
of retirees put their retirement allowances into savings accounts
instead of making them available for investment.
Besides their strong wish to protect their principal, many households
tend to avoid making investments because of insufficient knowledge
and experience. As a result, 70% of all those polled said that they
were cutting back on their daily spending as compared with while they
were still at work.
The survey found that as many as 57% of the respondent households
left a majority of their retirement pay in bank deposits and postal
savings. Only 28% invested a part of their retirement pay in financial
products other than bank deposits and postal savings, and 15% actively
invested their retirement pay in products other than bank deposits
and postal savings. As many as 60% prioritized the safety of their
principal no matter what, even in the current low-interest-rate
environment, far surpassing the 14% who sought large gains from price
appreciation despite the risk of their principal falling below par
value. Frequently-cited worries about fund management included "I
cannot hope to gain interest from any of the products available now,"
and "Banks and financial institutions are not trustworthy."
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, September)
-"No more personal desks" for IBM Japan sales staff-
You no longer have your own desk--this is the sort of environment
to which IBM Japan has begun changing the workplace for employees
in charge of sales. The aim is to eliminate the employee's own "castle"
in which he or she tends to loiter, and increase the time available
for meeting customers outside the company. This reportedly has had
the additional effect of reducing unnecessary paper data.
This strategy was implemented on a test basis beginning January
2004 and introduced on a full scale in September inside an office
at a business department in Tokyo that houses approximately 900
salespersons in charge of manufacturers. The office has no partitions
or walls, and tables seating 4 to 6 people are aligned in a row.
However, there are only enough seats for 300 or 400 people.
Many employees have positively evaluated the system during the
test period, saying that they spent about 40% more time visiting
their clients, and talked more actively with other employees.
By the end of FY2005, the company plans to expand this program to
cover the approximately 5,000 salespersons working in this business
office.
(Asahi Shimbun, September)
Special Issue
-Realization of affluent living through improved quality of employment,
an issue raised by the White Paper on Labour Economy 2004-
In September, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released
a White Paper on the Labour Economy. The White Paper's sub-theme is
"Challenges facing the realization of an affluent life through improved
quality of employment." It analyzes issues such as the changes in
economic society and the current employment status, the current status
of the lives of the working people, and changes in the awareness of
working people and their motivation to work, and explores measures
to realize this goal.
The White Paper points out that an important task for Japan to
become a more affluent country is to enhance the quality of employment
so that workers can find their jobs rewarding and challenging, and
can in turn enhance their ability to create added value.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.24/24_si.html
