The Japan Labor Flash No.61
Email Journal May 15, 2006
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
Rengo Calls for Reduction in Long Working Hours as Priority Issue
RIETI Views the Need for Family-Care as a Factor Keeping the Elderly
from Employment
Public Policies
Council on Labor Contract and Working Hour Systems Suggests Viewpoints
for Considering Various Issues
The Number of Full-Time Dispatched, Contract, and Entrusted Workers
Increases
News Clippings
A Holiday System for Franchised Shop Owners
Raises in Starting Pay Revived among Large Firms
Special Issue
Labor Force Participation Rate of Females Increases for the First
Time in Eight Years, Boosted by Middle-aged and Elderly Women
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports April 2006-
Features
Survey on Consecutive Leave Plan in Golden-Week Holidays
Monthly Economic Labor Report (April)
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2006/e2006-04.htm
Current Topics
-Rengo Calls for Reduction in Long Working Hours as Priority Issue-
A Labor Policy Council subcommittee, the Study Group for Labor
Conditions, has commenced discussion on revision of laws related to
working hours. However, Rengo (the Japanese Trade Union Confederation)
expressed deep misgivings concerning one of the main elements of the
proposed revisions, namely the establishment of a self-determined
working hour system.
On April 17, Rengo held a symposium on the fundamental reasons for
regulations concerning working hours, suggesting that specific measures
should be proposed that would ensure balance between working and family
lives, on the grounds that this is the greatest reason for reducing
long working hours.
Rengo pointed out the facts: that about one fourth of male workers
in their 30s were obliged to work 60 hours or more per week; that the
rate of paid holidays being taken had now dropped below 50%; and that
many female workers were obliged to give up either their career or the
idea of giving birth and raising a family because of the difficulty in
reconciling the two on account of long working hours. Showing a sense
of crises, it also noted that due to these severe working conditions,
problems involving stress and damage to health have reached a critical
level, and warned that the adoption of a system which would exclude
white-collar workers from satisfying certain requirements concerning
the regulations on working hours stipulated by the Labour Standards Law
would not resolve the problem, but would aggravate it further.
At the symposium, Rengo adopted an appeal, advocating that it would
not condone the introduction of "white-collar exemption" and
every
workplace will insist on realization of a legal system related to
working hours which enables workers to safeguard their livelihood
and health.
-RIETI Views the Need for Family-Care as a Factor Keeping the Elderly
from Employment-
The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI),
an independent administrative agency, published a discussion paper
entitled "The Impact of Family-Care on Decision-Making of the Elderly
concerning Employment and Retirement." The institute points out in
the paper that the presence of family members in need of care tends
to limit employment of other family members. So far, much attention
has been given to the public pension scheme and the mandatory retirement
system as factors which may prevent elderly persons from working. Now,
the latest paper suggests from a new viewpoint the importance of putting
emphasis on measures to alleviate the burden of family care on other
family members so as to encourage elderly persons to participate in
the labor market.
Public Policies
-Council on Labor Contract and Working Hour Systems Suggests Viewpoints
for Considering Various Issues-
On April 11, 2006, at a meeting of the Study Group for Labor Conditions
of the Labor Policy Council of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare,
the secretariat put forward "viewpoints for considering legal systems
related to labor contracts and working hours." As specific issues
requiring discussion, the secretariat cited the clarification of rules
concerning "company rules," "important working conditions,"
"methods of
termination of labor contracts," and "definite-term labor contracts"
for the legal system related to labor contracts, and "reduction in
overtime," "reconsideration of the annual paid-holiday system,"
and
"establishment of a self-determined working hour system" for
the legal
system related to working hour.
-The Number of Full-Time Dispatched, Contract, and Entrusted Workers
Increases-
In April, the Cabinet Office published a report entitled "Trends
in the Number of Regular and Non-Regular Employees as Seen in Working
Hours." The number of full-time workers has been decreasing since
2002,
while that of part-time workers has substantially increased during the
same period. On the other hand, the Monthly Labor Survey of the Ministry
of Health, Labour and Welfare shows that the number of full-time workers
turned around in 2005, while the growth rate of the number of part-time
workers slowed down in the same year. In the meantime, the Labour Force
Survey of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications shows that,
since 2002, the number of regular employees has fallen, and that of non
-regular employees has increased.
The Cabinet Office report attributes the trends seen in those surveys
to the ongoing replacement of regular employees by non-regular ones in
the form of an increase in the number of full-time dispatched, contract,
and entrusted workers.
News Clippings
-A Holiday System for Franchised Shop Owners-
Lawson, Inc., a franchised chain developer of convenience stores,
is to adopt a "shop owner support system." This will help owners
of
franchised outlets to take holidays under the system, with headquarter
employees serving as shopkeepers and managing the business on behalf of
owners when they take holidays. Owners will be charged for making use
of the new support services. This is the first time for such a franchised
chain developer to introduce holiday schemes for franchised owners.
Under the system, owners are allowed to take holidays for a maximum
of seven days per fiscal year, including a consecutive holiday of a
maximum four days. The service is only available when owners make a
trip or attend, for example, a wedding ceremony.
Currently, quite a few owners of franchised convenience stores
experience difficulty in taking holidays or making regular trips,
though these would make a refreshing change. The owners of such stores
will be able to solve this problem if they take advantage of the new
system.
(Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, April)
-Raises in Starting Pay Revived among Large Firms-
According to an survey conducted by Nihon Keizai Shimbun targeted
approximately 100 leading companies, slightly less than 30 percent of
the firms surveyed replied that they had increased initial salaries
for college graduate recruits this Spring. A majority of these were
raising initial salaries for the first time in five years; AEON Co.
Ltd. substantially increased its entry-level wages for the first time
in 12 years, and Toyota Motor Corp. did so for the first time in six
years.
In making the first raise in starting pay in a long time, made
possible by good business performance, these firms are aiming at
securing competitive workers even though it may lead to increased
personnel costs. With the workforce expected to shrink, more firms
are likely to raise their starting salaries from next spring onwards
provided business performance stays buoyant.
Major firms raising the initial salaries, and the amount of the
payments:
* AEON Co., Ltd.: a raise of \13,000 to \209,000.
* Toyota Motor Corp.: a raise of \1,000 to \201,000.
* COSMO OIL Co., Ltd.: a raise of \9,000 to \216,260. The first raise
in six years.
* Takashimaya Co., Ltd.: a raise of \9,000 to \202,000. The first
raise in six years.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, April)
US$=\109 (May 15, 2006)
Special Issue
-Labor Force Participation Rate of Females Increases for the First
Time in Eight Years, Boosted by Middle-aged and Elderly Women-
A 2005 Annual Reports for Working Woman (White Paper) published by
the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has shown that the proportion
of female workers - those who are actually in work or looking for a job
- to the total number of females aged 15 and above (labor force
participation rate) was 48.8 percent in 2005, an increase of 0.1
percentage points year-on-year and the first increase in eight years.
The participation rate for females aged 15 and above, exceeding 50
percent in 1990, had been declining since 1998. The white paper attributes
the higher participation rate to an increase in job openings for females
and, in particular, an increase in the number of females aged 45 and above
who are in work, due to the economic recovery in recent years.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.61/61_si.html
