The Japan Labor Flash No.56
Email Journal March 1, 2006
The Japan Labor Flash Reader Questionnaire
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Plan to reduce the number of civil servants expected to meet
difficulties
Gap in Scheduled Cash Earnings between Tokyo and Aomori Amounts
to 147,300 yen
Public Policies
Employment of the Disabled in Welfare Facilities by Private Firms
to Quadruple
Revised Law on the Promotion of Vocational Ability Outlined:
Vocational Training Scheme with OJT Opportunities to be Established
News Clippings
Firms Place More Emphasis on Support for Families in which Both
Parents Work
Gap between High Schools and Universities in Views on the Economic
Disparity among Households
Special Issue
The 2006 Spring Joint Wage Negotiations (Shunto) Set in Motion
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Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200603/index.htm
Current Topics
-Plan to reduce the number of civil servants expected to meet
difficulties-
In December 2005, the Cabinet approved a "core policy for
administrative reform," aimed at reducing the number of national
civil servants by five percent or more over the next five years,
of which a reduction by 3.5 percent or more would be realized by
streamlining government agencies and outsourcing some administrative
operations to the private sector. The plan cited 15 areas which would
be subject to the administrative streamlining. The government aims
in early March to submit to the Diet a Bill for the Promotion of
Administrative Reforms (provisional name). This bill features, most
notably, reforms reducing payroll costs for civil servants.
On February 8, the Council of Advisors to the Government on
Administrative Streamlining and Efficiency held a meeting at which
it decided to add another seven administrative areas, among them
workers' accident compensation insurance, services related to
registration, and the Japan Meteorological Agency. These were added
to the list of services subjected to streamlining at the previous
meeting, which included eight administrative areas such as Job
-Placement Offices, the Social Insurance Agency and administration
of prison facilities.
On February 10, the government's Headquarters for Administrative
Reform also approved a basic plan (summary of the bill) to formulate
the Bill for the Promotion of Administrative Reforms (provisional name),
which is to be presented to the Diet in early March. The plan sets
forth a basic policy for the reform in accordance with the "core
policy
for administrative reform," with emphasis on, for example, reforms
on policy-based finance; reorganization of independent administrative
agencies; reforms of special accounts; and reforms of total labor costs.
The government called on four ministries - the Ministries of
Justice; Health, Labour and Welfare; Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries; and Land, Infrastructure and Transport - to submit drafts
of their plans to cut their workforces by late February, but their
proposed plans seem to have failed to reach the target the government
set.
While the summary of the bill suggested that administrative services
related to prison facilities would be examined to put in the hands of
the private sector, at a ministers' conference held on February 10,
Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura requested that this be made an
"exception," saying that prisons are now filled beyond capacity.
At a press interview held on the same day, State Minister in charge
of Administrative Reform Koki Chuma explained his understanding of
the request, suggesting that services other than those involving
prison wardens could be left to the private sector. However,
such services account for a mere five percent of all services related
to prison facilities - which exposes the underlying intention of
watering down the reform.
The ministries will almost certainly resist the bill for streamlining,
calling for "exceptional" treatment, and the plan will unavoidably
face serious challenges.
-Gap in Scheduled Cash Earnings between Tokyo and Aomori Amounts to
147,300 yen-
In February, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published
the findings (preliminary report by prefecture) of the 2005 Basic
Survey on Wage Structure. By prefecture, the average scheduled cash
earnings of general workers were the highest in Tokyo, at 370,100 yen
(among workers with an average 11.5-year service), and the lowest were
in Aomori, at 222,800 yen (among workers with an average 10.7-year
service). The gap between workers in the two prefectures was 147,300
yen.
US$=\115 (March 1, 2006）
Public Policies
-Employment of the Disabled in Welfare Facilities by Private Firms
to Quadruple-
In February, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare presented
to the Social Security Council a basic policy, with numerical targets,
concerning facilities for disabled persons. The policy is contingent
on a Law to Promote the Independence of Persons with Disabilities,
due to be enacted in April 2006. Currently, the rate of employment
of disabled persons in welfare facilities by private firms is one
percent. The plan sets the target to be achieved by the end of 2011
at four percent.
-Revised Law on the Promotion of Vocational Ability Outlined: Vocational
Training Scheme with OJT Opportunities to be Established-
On February 1, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare outlined
drafts of a revised Law on the Promotion of Vocational Ability and a
revised Law to Secure the Workforce for Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises, and consulted the Labor Policy Council. The draft bills
include a plan to establish a system to assist firms which undertake
a vocational training scheme combining OJT and lectures. Through this
scheme, the revised laws are aimed at, among other things, offering
young people a "third option" other than employment and education,
and facilitating smooth skill transfer.
News Clippings
-Firms Place More Emphasis on Support for Families in which Both
Parents Work -
With the birth rate dropping faster and faster, firms are going
ahead with strategies to support child-rearing, for example, by
broadening eligibility for shorter working hour schemes. The move is
in some ways a shift of corporate strategy towards greater emphasis
on securing competitive workers by putting in place a working
environment which enables them to balance child-rearing and work
responsibilities.
In April, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., which currently has a scheme
allowing workers with children to reduce their daily work hours by
three hours until the children enter primary school, will extend the
eligibility until the children have completed the third year of primary
school. The company decided reportedly on the expansion of eligibility
in order to meet the desire of employees to go home earlier because of
the current increase in the number of crimes targeting small children
in the lower grades of primary school.
Toshiba Co., Ltd. has agreed with its labor union to abolish in
principle the payment of allowances to spouses of employees and,
instead, to increase the amount of child-rearing allowances to a
maximum of six times the current level.
The Law to Promote Measures to Assist the Rearing of the Next
Generation, enacted in April 2005, makes it compulsory for enterprises
with more than 300 employees to report their action plans on support
for childrearing. However, the law is of no use without the
understanding of others in the same workplace, and efforts are being
made to promote greater understanding among superiors and colleagues.
(Asahi Shimbun, February)
-Gap between High Schools and Universities in Views on the Economic
Disparity among Households-
License Academy Inc., an education-related service company,
conducted a survey on tuition fees in universities. The findings
reveal the gap in views between universities and high schools on
the economic disparity among households. A questionnaire was sent to
all universities (716) and high schools (5,418) across the country
- 6,134 educational institutions in all. Answers were received from
307 universities and 442 high schools.
Asked whether the gap in opportunities to receive higher education
due to financial means seems to be widening among households, 37.3
percent of the high schools surveyed replied that they "strongly
agree,"
and 46.1 percent replied that they "somewhat agree," totaling
more
than 80 percent of responses. This is much greater than the proportion
of high schools answering "somewhat disagree" or "disagree,"
which
accounted for only 6.4 percent of responses.
Asked the same questions, on the other hand, a relatively smaller
proportion of the universities surveyed gave the affirmative answers
"strongly agree" (10.5%) and "somewhat agree" (46.2%),
whereas the
universities which responded "somewhat disagree" or "disagree"
accounted for as much as 12.5% of responses.
An analyst of the License Academy attributes the difference in
views between high schools and universities on economic disparities
to the fact that the latter observe only students who actually enter
university.
The survey also reveals that more than half of the high schools
surveyed feel that the scholarship systems of the universities
themselves do not function properly, while 63.0 percent of the
universities surveyed replied that they "do not plan" to improve
their scholarship programs. While more than 40 percent of the high
schools surveyed believe that the availability of scholarship
programs at schools will be taken into account when high school
students choose a university to go to. Tuition fees may well be a
key in selecting universities in fiscal 2007, in an era when almost
everyone can get into university.
(Asahi Shimbun, February)
Special Issue
-The 2006 Spring Joint Wage Negotiations (Shunto) Set in Motion-
On February 3, at a meeting in Tokyo, Rengo (the Japanese Trade
Union Confederation) adopted an "announcement of the commencement
of this year's struggle." This was followed on February 10 by the
submission of requests to management by Kikan Roren (the Japan
Federation of Basic Industry Workers' Unions) and major unions,
thereby effectively setting in motion the spring joint wage
negotiations. The date for management to respond was set at March 15.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.56/56_si.htm
