The Japan Labor Flash No.59
Email Journal April 17, 2006
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
Firms Held Induction Ceremonies Simultaneously on April 3
Fresh Workers Categorized as "Weblog" Type
Public Policies
Talks to Discuss Basic Labor Rights for Civil Servants To Be Held
"Mothers' Helloworks" Now Open
Industrial Court System Comes into Effect
News Clippings
Hitachi to Adopt A "Free-Address System" for 15,000 Employees
No Males Take Child-Care Leave at More than 30 percent of the
Leading 100 Companies Surveyed
Special Issue
The Japanese Way of Working Seen in a JILPT Survey
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports-
Features
Basic Survey on Wage Structure (2005)
Report on Employment Service (February)
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2006/e2006-03.htm
Current Topics
-Firms Held Induction Ceremonies Simultaneously on April 3-
According to a Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) survey,
approximately 54 percent of the firms surveyed hired more new graduates
this spring than the previous year, and three out of four firms
surveyed, looking back on their recruitment activities, replied that
to find new workers had been a struggle. Buoyed up by the economic
recovery, securities companies, banking institutions, and manufacturing
companies in particular actively increased the number of new recruits.
It seems that the "ice age" is now over.
On Monday April 3, the day when firms in practice start their
business in the new fiscal year, almost all firms held ceremonies to
welcome their fresh recruits. This spring, a total of approximately
570,000 new graduates from universities or high schools entered the
workforce. As usual in recent years, the news media made a point of
reporting the speeches of presidents of leading companies which had
attracted nationwide attention due to scandals or other reasons.
-Fresh Workers Categorized as "Weblog" Type-
Every year, the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic
Development analyzes the general characteristics of new recruits who
have just graduated and are entering the workforce, and suggests a
term to describe them. In late March, it published the term for this
fiscal year's new recruits - the "blog-type." "They may
appear
obedient," the Center explains, "but they have individual aspirations
and sometimes boldly assert such aspirations in, for example, their
Weblog diaries, beyond the framework of the companies they belong to.
While they are quite sensitive and skilled in building one kind of
personal network such as those using weblogs, they opt to express
themselves only via personal computer." It also points out that they
have a strong desire to impress and may demonstrate astonishing ability
once they have received approval, but tend at the same time to be
discouraged quite easily depending on their mood or the remarks made
by others.
* A weblog is a website which anyone can launch easily to carry
their online diaries. Internet-related companies provide weblog
services free of charge, and blogging is becoming a popular means of
communication because of its easy-to-create format needing no difficult
technical knowledge. In weblogs, visitors can post comments on the
diaries and the weblog owners can communicate with other owners.
Public Policies
-Talks to Discuss Basic Labor Rights for Civil Servants To Be Held-
On March 20, a group representing the government and Rengo (the Japan
Trade Union Confederation) held a conference concerning reform affecting
the government personnel system. Representatives of the two sides, to
include State Minister in charge of Administrative Reform, Koki Chuma
and Nobuaki Koga, Rengo's General Secretary, agreed to have talks to
discuss the "scope of civil servants who will be granted basic labor
rights." This government-labor conference will have another meeting
after the "Golden Week" of successive holidays in early May
to decide
on specific conditions and timing of the talks. In the meantime, on
March 29, the Council of the International Labor Organization (ILO)
resolved to advise the Japanese government to review its personnel
system, urging that its civil servants be granted the right to strike
along with other basic labor rights (the third such recommendation
since those of 2002 and 2003).
-"Mothers' Helloworks" Now Open-
In April, in 12 cities across the country, the Ministry of Health,
Labour and Welfare launched "Helloworks for Mothers" to encourage
people who are looking for jobs while taking care of children to find
employment as early as possible. The new type of Helloworks has a
"Kids Corner," providing environment to make it easier for job
seekers
with children to visit and receive counseling services. These new
official job centers are aimed at assisting job seekers in accordance
with the individual wishes, needs and circumstances by providing
vocational counseling served under the representative system,
(appointment required) and information concerning nurseries in
collaboration with local public bodies.
-Industrial Court System Comes into Effect-
On April 1, an Industrial Court System came into practice. Complaints
are accepted in district courts across the country, and the first one
was brought in by the worker's side to the Tokyo District Court on
April 1. Parties concerned with the new system pay attention to how it
will function, which is designed to settle expeditiously an individual
labor dispute within three sessions taking about three months at the
most. So far, some claims have been brought in seeking, for example,
confirmation of the right to take annual paid holidays.
News Clippings
-Hitachi to Adopt A "Free-Address System" for 15,000 Employees-
In April, Hitachi Ltd. will fully introduce a "free-address system."
The new system involves an office layout where workers have no
designated desk or a seat around a big table, but instead can take
any appropriate seat. The firm will first adopt the new system for
15,000 workers in the information and communications group, then
extend it gradually to workers in other divisions. The system is
aimed at cutting expenses and facilitating inter-sectional and other
projects. Hitachi is the first company to introduce the free-address
system on such a large scale, involving more than 10,000 workers.
In practice, Hitachi workers will seat themselves in accordance
with the project teams or the nature of the work in which they are
involved, regardless of whether or not they officially belong to that
particular sales or development department. To do so, they will pick
up their computers and materials from their personal lockers and use
the telephones on desks they have chosen by inserting their ID number
on their arrival office.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, March)
-No Males Take Child-Care Leave at More than 30 percent of the Leading
100 Companies Surveyed-
More than 30 percent of the 100 leading companies (with more than
300 employees) surveyed by The Asahi Shimbun said that none of
their male employees had taken child-care leave, though the survey
also found that a majority of the firms had improved their measures
to assist child-rearing among their employees: 65 firms in fact had
child-care leave allowing longer periods than legally required; and
76 firms had adopted a shorter working hour system.
The Asahi survey found that, at 32 companies, no male workers have
taken child-care leave since 1992 when the government launched the
child-care leave system: 54 companies replied that they already had
male workers who took leave, and 14 companies gave no answer. In
fiscal 2005, a total of 109 male workers at 42 firms took time off
from work to concentrate on child care, while such leave was taken
for the first time at Honda Motor Co., Kobe Steel Ltd., and nine
other companies.
The survey also revealed that, in their child-care support, 62
companies incorporated measures urging male workers to participate
in child rearing. More specifically, quite a few among them are
encouraging men to take leave when their wives give birth, or
advocating recognition of the provision for child-care leave for
male workers.
Some firms admitted that, behind the difficulty males feel in
taking such leave, lie the facts that it is difficult to fill the
post of somebody who is on leave; that workers do not know that men
are eligible for the system; and that male workers have a sense of
resistance against taking such leave.
(Asahi Shimbun, March)
Special Issue
-The Japanese Way of Working Seen in a JILPT Survey-
This issue of the Japan Labor Flash introduces the interesting
results of a "(1st-round) Survey on the Working Life of the Japanese
amidst the Diversification of Employment Patterns" published at the
end of March by the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training.
The survey was carried out in August and September 2005, addressed
to 8,000 persons across the country, aged 20 or older but under 65.
Effective answers were returned by 4,939 persons (effective rate of
return, 61.7%).
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.59/59_si.html
