The Japan Labor Flash No.8
Email Journal February 2, 2004
JILPT Information
JILPT Foreign Researcher Invitation Program
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Sumitomo Electric's gender discrimination lawsuit reaches an amicable
settlement, with promotion and payment of 10 million yen in damages
Public Policies
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to submit draft of revision
of the law to enable part-time and temporary workers to take family
and medical leave ...etc
News Clippings
NEC boosts childcare support programs ...etc
Special Issue
Japanese youths becoming increasingly anxious about their future
JILPT Information
Information on JILPT Foreign Researcher Invitation Program
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 and living 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 2004 (April 2004 to March 2005). If you would
like to apply for this year, please submit your application documents
by February 20, 2004.
For more details, please refer to:
Application Process for the Long-term Foreign Researcher Invitation
Program
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/documents/longtermFRIP.pdf
Application Process for the Short-term Foreign Researcher Invitation Program
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/documents/shorttermFRIP.pdf
Application Form for the Foreign Researcher Invitation Programs
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/documents/application_000.doc
※You can view PDF files with Acrobat Reader which's available at
no cost from Adobe's Web site.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators January 2004-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200402/index.htm
Current Topics
-Sumitomo Electric's gender discrimination lawsuit reaches an amicable
settlement, with promotion and payment of 10 million yen in damages-
Kyodo News Agency reports that the lawsuit instigated by two female
employees of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Osaka City), demanding
that the company and the Japanese Government pay approximately 160
million yen as damage compensation (including wage differences between
them and their male counterparts), reached an amicable settlement on
January 5, 2004 at the Osaka High Court. The plaintiffs charged that
the company's refusal to promote them from general clerical posts
to professional, career-track posts violated the Constitution and
other laws. They also sought damages from the Japanese Government,
which ruled that no mediation based on the Equal Opportunities Act
would be initiated.
Articles of the amicable settlement were as follows: (1) One employee
will be promoted to a post equivalent to Section Manager, and the other,
to a post equivalent to Section Head; (2) the company will pay a total
of 10 million yen as settlement money; and (3) the Minister of Health,
Labour and Welfare will strive to more actively apply the mediation
system.
According to the attorney representing the plaintiffs, this is the
first amicable settlement of a labor lawsuit in which promotion to
administrative posts--a demand not included in the complaints--was
actualized. At a news conference, the plaintiffs praised the Chief
Justice's written recommendation that an amicable settlement be
reached, saying that it was in line with public opinion both inside
and outside Japan, and proudly declared that they had achieved a
major victory that was more significant than the ruling itself.
The amicable settlement was reached in December 2003, and an official
announcement of the employees' promotions was released on January 5,
2004.
US$=\105 (February 2004)
Public Policies
-Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to submit draft of revision
of the law to enable part-time and temporary workers to take family
and medical leave-
The present program of childcare and nursing care leave does not
cover individuals working under fixed-term employment contracts, such
as part-time and temporarily dispatched workers.
Last yearend, the Labour Policy Council of the Ministry of Health,
Labour and Welfare drew up a recommendation to revise the system.
According to the proposed revision, even individuals working under
fixed-term employment contracts should be able to obtain childcare
and nursing care leave after having been employed by the same company
for one year or more at the time they request such leave.
Some primary changes are as follows:
With respect to childcare leave, an applicant can take such leave
if he or she is expected to be continuously employed by the company
even after his or her child reaches the age of 1 (excluding cases in
which employment is terminated before the child reaches the age of 2).
As for duration, part-time workers, like full-time employees, will
continue to be able to take such leave until their child reaches the
age of 1. However, they can extend the duration to a maximum of 6
months if they have special reasons, such as not being able to place
their child in a day care center at the time the leave expires.
Meanwhile, nursing care leave can be obtained on condition that
the applicant is expected to be employed continuously, exceeding 3
months from the start of the planned leave, and that it is not clear,
at the time of applying for such leave, that employment would terminate
within 15 months after the planned starting date of leave. As for
duration, part-time workers, like full-time employees, will be able
to take such leave more often than once: each time a family member
requires nursing care, as long as the total period does not exceed
three months. This is a change from the conventional system of taking
"one three-month leave per family member."
As for nursing care provided to children, a 5-day nursing care leave
period targeting preschool-age children will be newly established for
each worker.
These system revisions are expected to reduce the differences system
-wise between fixed-term and full-time workers, and to contribute to
programs and measures that address the falling birthrate issue.
-Draft of a revision of the Law concerning the Stabilization of
Employment of Older Persons is formulated, aiming to put in place
a system of continued employment up to age 65-
Last yearend, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare decided on
a policy to introduce by 2013 a system mandating corporations to
continue employing workers until the age of 65. This is in response
to the phased raising, to 65, of the age at which employee pension
payments will begin.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.8/olderpersons.htm
News Clippings
-NEC boosts childcare support programs-
In July, NEC will introduce more extensive childcare support programs,
such as providing all employees with up to 600,000 yen on the birth of
a child. The new program centers around strengthening the merit-based
wages which the company will introduce beginning in April. Spouse
allowances will also be abolished in stages, while family-support
allowances targeting children will be increased.
This support program will be applied to the approximately 24,000
people working at NEC per se and to the approximately 6,000 people
working at its semiconductor subsidiary, NEC Electronics. All employees,
including those in managerial posts, receive a lump sum payment of
550,000 per child born. An additional 50,000 yen will be provided if
employees subscribe to educational endowment insurance programs. The
company expects to see over 1,000 applicants per year.
While many major general electric machinary and equipment companies
are moving to abolish their family allowances, NEC's program, according
to a company official, is a new countermeasure aimed at alleviating
employees' anxieties about the cost of childrearing, and at preventing
the outflow of personnel by enabling them to work and raise a family
at the same time.
(Asahi Shimbun, December)
-Sanyo Electric to introduce wage differences beginning with next
year's new recruits-
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. will apply a job position-based wage system
in the spring of 2005, beginning with new college graduates. Under
this system, wage differences will arise depending on employees'
abilities and skills. Although many major electric appliance companies
are actively reexamining the seniority wage system, this is the first
time that a company has made changes that affect employees' starting
salaries.
The company will adopt the "grade-skipping" system of providing
the
most qualified new recruits with a grade-class comparable with, or
even higher than, that of employees who had joined the company before
them. For example, if a new recruit has exceptionally high-level
knowledge of semiconductor design and is recognized to be capable of
starting work immediately as a fully-fledged employee, he or she will
be classified comparably to those joining the company before him or
her, and receive a salary higher than that of other employees joining
the company in the same year. There may even be cases in which he or
she receives higher pay than his or her senior workers
Moreover, starting this summer, liberal arts university students who
have been unofficially chosen to work for the company the following
spring will undergo a training program and take part in small-scale
projects related to personnel, sales and accounting. Their abilities
will be evaluated based on their practical skills, and the findings
will be used to help decide on the post and department they will be
assigned to. Trainees will receive about 100,000 yen per month.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, January)
Special Issue
-Japanese youths becoming increasingly anxious about their future-
As of December 2003, only 73.5% of university students planning to
graduate this spring have received official job offers. This was 3.2%
lower than the same period in the previous year, and the lowest figure
ever since the current investigation method was introduced in 1996
(surveyed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).
The rate for high school students, meanwhile, was 61.9% as of
November 2003, which, although being 1.1% higher than the same period
in the previous year, was nevertheless the second lowest rate ever
(according to a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey).
Finding jobs continues to be extremely difficult. Under the
circumstances, it is little wonder that the feelings of young people
about work and the future are beginning to change.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.8/japaneseyouths.html
