The JIL Labor Flash Vol.12
Email Journal 01.02.2002
Statistical Reports
Main Labour Economic Indicators
Current Topics
2002 Shunto Spring Labor Negotiations Begin
Public Policies
Advisory Guideline on Reconciling Work with Childcare and Nursing Care
...etc
News Clippings
Newspaper Articles on Work Sharing Featured in Three Newspapers
Special Issue
Japan's Population to Begin Decreasing Sooner
Statistical Reports
-Main Labour Economic Indicators January 2002-
http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/eshuyo/200201/econtents.htm
Current Topics
-2002 Shunto Spring Labor Negotiations Begin-
On January 11, the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations
(Nikkeiren) at its extraordinary general meeting adopted the Nikkeiren
Position Paper 2002, which serves as a guideline for employers going
into yearly Shunto labor negotiations. Similarly, the Japanese Trade
Union Confederation (Rengo)-taking its cue from an enlarged tactical
meeting held on January 9-held a Central Struggle Committee meeting
on the same day (January 11) and set aside the third week in March for
intensive talks with employers. The National Confederation of Trade
Unions (Zenroren) also put together a unified guideline demanding a
monthly wage increase of 15,000 yen, a minimum hourly wage of 1,000 yen
for part-time workers, and minimum wage levels of 1,000 yen per hour,
7,400 yen per day, and 150,000 yen per month for ordinary workers.
Zenroren also set aside the day following employer responses to its
demands (scheduled for mid-March) for "coordinated national action."
As these examples show, programs leading up to the 2002 Shunto negotiations
are already well under way.
1US$≒\133 (January 2002)
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002a/vol.12/shunto2002.htm
Public Policies
-Advisory Guideline on Reconciling Work with Childcare and Nursing Care-
The Labor Policy Council submitted an advisory guideline for employers
to the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare following a partial revision
to the Child Care and Nursing Care Leave Law, introduced in November 2001.
The guideline cites specific examples of the types of activities
prohibited under the revised law. Specifically, employers are prohibited
from firing, downgrading full-time workers to part-time workers, laying
off, or demoting employees who apply for child care or nursing care leave.
The guideline also notes that "encouraged" retirement or switching
an employee from full employee status to subsidiary employee status
will be prohibited, even with the apparent agreement of the employee,
if the agreement was deemed to be made under coercion. Taking work
away from employees or assigning them to clearly non-essential jobs
are also defined in the guideline as "Degrading the work environment."
-1.85 Million Jobs to be Created through the e-Japan Project-
The Information and Communication Economy Institute, part of the
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications,
announced the results of a study on the effects that the government's
e-Japan Project (scheduled for FY2001-2005) are predicted to have on
the domestic economy.
According to the Institute's calculations, increased public investment
and the resulting production increases in the relevant sectors will
result in 1.85 million more jobs by the end of fiscal 2005. This is
projected to push up the latent economic growth rate by an additional
0.5% and increase productivity per worker by 2.8-3.5%.
Increased Internet use is expected to push down the costs of distribution
and logistics, thus reducing product prices and stimulating consumer
demand by an additional 27,000 yen per person per year. The report
states that the spread of electronic trading and increased purchases
of IT products can be expected to push consumption up by 178,000 yen
a year per person in total.
The e-Japan Project seeks to connect 30 million households in Japan
to high-speed Internet services by FY2005 and make Japan a world IT
leader nation.
News Clippings
Newspaper Articles on Work Sharing Featured in Three Newspapers
-85% of Keidanren Member Companies "Will Not" Adopt Work Sharing-
The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) conducted
a survey on work sharing among its 1,100 member corporations and received
replies from 306 companies. According to this survey, 6% of the companies
surveyed already adopt work sharing and 9% are planning to adopt it,
but 85% will not adopt work sharing for the time being. Keidanren
believes that most companies are unwilling to implement work sharing
because of fears that it will lead to decreased productivity.
Of the companies that have agreements with labor unions, and already
use or are planning to use work sharing, 11% have chosen work sharing
specifically to reduce work hours per employee and thus create additional
jobs. Although this type of work sharing arrangement is expected to be
the focus of much discussion during the forthcoming Shunto negotiations,
the survey showed that companies adopting this type of arrangement
were still very much in the minority.
Keidanren Chairman Takashi Imai stated that because what constitutes
work sharing is still nebulous, meaningful discussions should not begin
unless the definition of work sharing is made clearer.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, January)
-Freedom to Hold Second Jobs Suggested to Make Up for Salary Decreases
Coming from Work Sharing-
The Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union have
announced that they are recommending their affiliated trade unions to
demand the freedom to hold second jobs in their negotiations with
employers during the forthcoming Shunto negotiations. The demand is
designed to make up for employee salary decreases that will come if
work sharing is adopted.
Over 80% of Japanese companies prohibit or severely restrict their
employees from holding second jobs to prevent in-house expertise from
leaking outside the company. The present demand to relax this restriction
allows labor to address dire employee needs of maintaining both employment
and livelihood in this sector, which has been particularly hard-hit by
the recession. Employers in the electrical, electronic, and information
industry are reacting positively to the demand for the right to hold
second jobs as a necessary trade-off for introducing work sharing in
the industry.
(Tokyo Shimbun, January)
-Reducing Staff Salaries to Maintain Employment-
Tottori Prefecture has submitted a proposal to its labor union to
cut the salaries of prefectural public employees by 5% over the next
three years, beginning this April. The salary cuts will result in
approximately 12 billion yen in extra revenue over the three years,
which the prefecture will spend on employment creation measures.
The extra revenue will be used to increase the number of prefectural
workers in the child care and welfare sectors, which at present suffer
from a shortage of qualified staff. The revenue will also be used to
introduce work sharing support measures in the fiscal 2002 budget.
According to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts
and Telecommunications, although many prefectures and municipalities
are cutting the salaries of their public employees, Tottori's case
is the first in which the resulting extra revenue has been specifically
earmarked for employment creation.
(Asahi Shimbun, January)
Special Issue
-Japan's Population to Begin Decreasing Sooner-
The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research of
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that Japan's
population will begin decreasing much sooner and more sharply than
calculated in previous estimates. Past estimates assumed that the
number of children an average woman would have in her lifetime would
stabilize at around 1.6, but the new estimate shows this figure to be
around 1.4. Because fewer children are being born, Japan's total
population will peak 127,741,000 persons in 2006, a year earlier than
predicted in past estimates.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002a/vol.12/japan'spopulation.html
New Website open!!
Labour Information in Japan
Source of labor information in Japan for foreign companies provided by
the Japan Institute of Labour(JIL)
http://www.jil.go.jp/laborinfo-e.htm
