The Japan Labor Flash No.53
Email Journal January 16, 2006
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
2006 Shunto Wage Negotiations: Management Favorable to Wage
Increases and Negative about across-the-board Basic Pay Hikes
Public Policies
Winter Bonus for Civil Servants Increases for the First Time in
Eight Years
Maximum Number of National Civil Servants for Fiscal Year 2006
Sees Net Reduction of Approx. 1,200
News Clippings
Young Workers and Job-Switching
Tree-Fourths of Workers in their 20s and 30s Feel Unenthusiastic
about Work
Special Issue
Beleaguered Schoolteachers in Japan
[JILPT Information]
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports December 2005-
Features
Basic Survey on Labor Unions (2005)
First Basic Complete Tabulation of the Population Census (2005)
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2005/e2005-12.htm
Current Topics
-2006 Shunto Wage Negotiations: Management Favorable to Wage
Increases and Negative about across-the-board Basic Pay Hikes-
Pay increases achieved in shunto wage negotiations consist of basic
pay hikes intended to raise the level of the general wage curve and
regular pay hikes, and shunto have traditionally focused on the former.
In recent years, however, quite a few firms have ceased such basic pay
hikes. Rengo (the Japanese Trade Union Confederation) also resigned
itself since 2002 to giving up a unified demand for basic pay increases.
In November last year, in fact, Rengo indicated that to achieve wage
increases in its policy for next year's spring negotiations, it would
switch its focus away from lump-sum payments towards monthly wages,
and decided to shelve any unified demand for basic pay hikes.
Nevertheless, where monthly wages are concerned, Rengo, showing that
it recognized the necessity of an increase by one percent or more on
the grounds that the economy was recovering, set a reference target
for workers at large companies of "310,000 yen or more for a worker
aged 35 with 17 service years," and a wage increase of 6,500 yen
or
more for workers at small and medium-sized firms. Labor unions
belonging to the iron and steel, shipbuilding, heavy machinery, and
electrical industries, buoyed by the recovery in corporate performance,
also decided to call for wage increases.
In December last year, on the other hand, a business labor policy
committee of Nippon Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation) drew
up a report indicating its basic policy for spring negotiations this
year. The policy states that wage determination must refer to
decisions on and amendments to labor conditions made by labor and
management in accordance with individual business conditions, and
indicated a willingness to give a favorable response to wage increases
by firms which have shown a conspicuous recovery in their business
performance. This represents a major turnaround of the attitude on
the part of management since 1993, when it launched a policy of no
basic pay hikes. The Federation at the same time encouraged individual
firms to determine their own wage levels, rather than make the
traditional basic pay increases on a "do-what-others-do" basis
within
each industry. Industry unions such as Kikan Roren (the Japan Federation
of Basic Industry Workers' Unions), and Denki Rengo (the Japanese
Electrical, Electronic & Information Union), which affiliate with
the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions (IMF-JC), a price-setter
in shunto negotiations are planning to make official decisions on
their policies for shunto by the end of January. In line with these
policies, individual enterprise-based unions will submit their written
demands to the management side in mid-February, touching off individual
labor-management negotiations lasting until mid-March, when management
will provide responses to their unions.
Although some leading unions are launching policies aimed at basic
pay hikes, wide gaps in corporate business performance and an increase
in the number of firms which have adopted merit-based wage systems
are making it more and more difficult for unions to press unified
demands for basic pay increases. In the meantime, shunto wage
negotiations are likely to change in nature, from being an opportunity
for a unified demand for basic pay increases to providing a place for
individual companies or individual types of workers to seek "wage
improvement."
Public Policies
-Winter Bonus for Civil Servants Increases for the First Time in
Eight Years-
Civil servants in regular administrative positions of the central
government, excluding those in managerial posts, were paid an average
of about 682,000 yen in winter bonuses, equivalent to 2.35 months of
salary for such workers (aged 34.6 on average). This represented an
increase of 0.9 percent over the previous year. This fiscal year's
bonus payments were raised per month by 0.05 month's wages, in
accordance with a recommendation of the National Personnel Authority
whereby the annual bonus payments - paid in June and December - were
increased for the first time in eight years. Local government employees
in regular administrative positions (aged 35.9 on average) were paid
about 651,000 yen on average, an increase of 0.3 percent from a year
earlier. Where special duty positions are concerned, Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and Supreme Court Chief Justice Akira Machida
received bonuses of around 6.1 million yen each; the chairpersons of
the Houses of Representatives and Councilors around 5.55 million yen;
cabinet ministers around 4.45 million yen; administrative vice ministers
around 3.56 million yen; and Diet members around 3.31 million yen each.
-Maximum Number of National Civil Servants for Fiscal Year 2006 Sees
Net Reduction of Approx. 1,200-
The government has set the net reduction for fiscal 2006 in the
number of national civil servants in non-industrial civil services at
around 1,200 persons. In order to achieve its target of a five-percent
net reduction of the number of national civil servants in five years
starting in fiscal 2006, the government has launched a policy of
realizing a substantial reduction from the first fiscal year. To do
this, it will be necessary to cut around 17,000 persons from the
maximum of approximately 332,000 set for fiscal year 2005. National
civil servants working for administrative organizations, other than
the Self-Defense Forces and the like, will be subject to the
streamlining plan; a reduction of 3.5 percent will be realized by
mergers or abolition of affiliated organizations (regional branches)
located in individual prefectures and by the administrative reform
to be conducted from fiscal year 2006 onwards, while the remaining
1.5 percent is expected to be cut via the "management of the maximum
number of employees," for which the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and
Communications is responsible.
News Clippings
-Young Workers and Job-Switching-
Pasona ai Inc., which runs websites on job-switching and job-searching,
carried out a survey of views on working life addressed to persons in
their 20s who accessed its websites between late July and mid-August
2005. Answers were obtained from 595 respondents.
The survey revealed that about 70 percent of the respondents who were
currently working had an eye to switching jobs, and that the majority
saw the nature of the job as most important.
The highest proportion of the respondents, 70 percent, looked to
"earning money" from working, marginally followed by "personal
growth"
(66 percent) and "the challenge" (58 percent), indicating that
whether
a job provides a sense of satisfaction and opportunities to grow, and
not only income, seems to be crucial for workers in their 20s. On the
other hand, when asked if they are currently willing to switch jobs,
21 percent replied that they want to do so immediately; 14 percent
said that they are thinking of doing so within a year; 7 percent said
that they are thinking of doing so within three years; 9 percent said
that they want to do so while they are in their 20s; and 21 percent said
"some day." In all, some 70 percent of the respondents are eyeing
the
possibility of job-switching.
As for the crucial qualities they look at when choosing a company,
the overwhelming majority, 45 percent, chose "the nature of the job",
followed by "the type of occupation" (16 percent) and "the
type of
business" (10 percent). Asked about what kind of image "a growing
company" should create, the highest proportion, 64 percent, said
a
"merit-based system."
The survey results reflect the outlook of workers in their 20s,
indicating that they think fairly actively about the possibility of
job-switching in pursuit of working environments whereby they can
fully demonstrate their abilities, regardless of their age, and grow
personally.
(Yomiuri Shimbun, December)
-Tree-Fourths of Workers in their 20s and 30s Feel Unenthusiastic
about Work-
The motivation to work among young people has declined considerably,
according to an Internet survey conducted in October 2005 by Nomura
Research Institute, Ltd. and addressed to 1,000 male and female regular
employees in their 20s or 30s in listed companies.
The survey shows that 75.0 percent of the respondents feel
unenthusiastic towards working - 16.1 percent of the respondents
"frequently feel" so and 58.9 percent "sometimes feel"
so.
When asked about which type of jobs provide satisfaction, the highest
proportion of the respondents, 29.0 percent, chose "well-paid jobs."
Apart from such money-related issues, importance was placed on "the
appeal and stimulus of the job itself" (44.5 percent) and "the
trust
and appreciation given by co-workers and subordinates" (35.0 percent).
In response to a projection that there will be many more freeters
nd NEETs by 2010, the Institute points out the need for corporate
efforts towards, for example, instilling a sense of responsibility
among young employees which will generate motivation to work and
afford them challenges.
(Mainichi Shimbun, December)
Special Issue
-Beleaguered Schoolteachers in Japan-
A spate of appalling crimes since the latter half of last year has
included the case of a schoolgirl who went missing on her way back
from school and whose body was later found abandoned in a hilly area,
and another schoolgirl who was stabbed to death by a teacher at a cram
school. Worry and concern among parents of small children are steadily
heightening. In rural areas where the population has been declining,
quite a few school routes lie outside the reach of general scrutiny;
police and local communities are expected to make continuous efforts
to secure children's safety, but such crimes seem to impose fresh
responsibilities on both schools and schoolteachers. Now, at a time
when higher efficiency is being demanded of school education, and
working conditions for schoolteachers are more demanding than ever
before, perhaps it is impossible to expect them to respond to these
new problems swiftly. The findings of recent surveys concerning
schoolteachers provide a picture of their situation.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.53/53_si.html
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