The JIL Labor Flash Vol.14
Email Journal 01.03.2002
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Moving Manufacturing Bases Overseas ...etc
Public Policies
Salary Cut Suggestions Made by Prefectures and Municipalities
News Clippings
One-Third of Listed Companies Adopt Annual Wage System ...etc
Special Issue
Prime Minister Koizumi Delivers Administrative Policy Speech
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators February 2002-
http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/eshuyo/200202/econtents.htm
Current Topics
-Moving Manufacturing Bases Overseas-
According to a January survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry targeting some 700 manufacturing companies, one in
seven companies have moved or are planning to move their production
bases overseas to reduce their manufacturing costs. Of these companies,
40% are targeting China. Even manufacturers of digital copiers and other
types of high-tech equipment are now moving their production overseas.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002a/vol.14/moving.html
-Rapid Rise in Suicides Among People in Their 50s -
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare held a meeting of experts
on the prevention of suicides. At the meeting, experts pointed out that
prejudices attached to persons suffering from depression or other mental
illnesses are preventing people from seeking an early cure and that the
government is slow to offer meaningful suicide prevention measures.
The number of suicides in Japan has exceeded 30,000 a year since 1998.
This number is staggering when one considers that deaths resulting
from traffic accidents in Japan number about 10,000 per year. Increases
in suicides are particularly marked among men in their late 40s to 60s.
In particular, suicides among men in their 50s numbered an appalling
8,000 cases. Men account for approximately 70% of suicides.
Experts at the meeting pointed out that increased unemployment among
middle-aged and older people, as well as various family circumstances,
is leading to an increased suicide rate. The experts stressed the importance
of the role that families play in preventing suicides.
These findings suggest that suicide and mental illness have become
an issue of immediate concern to both employers and labor organizations
alike.
Public Policies
-Salary Cut Suggestions Made by Prefectures and Municipalities-
A few years ago, the Governments of Tokyo and Osaka agreed with
their labor unions to cut the salaries of their public employees to
make up for the drop in tax revenue that resulted from the economic
recession.
We have mentioned in previous issues of JLF (Vol.12) that most
prefectures and municipalities in Japan now suffer from a budgetary
deficit and because of this, many of these prefectures and municipalities
are now following the examples of Tokyo and Osaka.
Aomori, Saitama, and five other prefectures have offered suggestions
to their labor unions to introduce salary cuts beginning this April.
These prefectures need to cut spending to balance their budgets, and
to ensure that taxpayers will agree to the cuts in the services they
receive as well as to show that the prefectures are serious about
balancing the budget, they believe that they must introduce cuts in
the salaries of their workers.
Labor unions, while recognizing that salary cuts will lead to
additional employment, find it difficult to accept these salary cuts
in view of a lack of proposals showing the specific steps by which
the prefectures plan to balance their budgets.
News Clippings
-One-Third of Listed Companies Adopt Annual Wage System-
According to a survey by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio
-Economic Development conducted in fall 2001, targeting personnel
directors from 339 companies, 34.8% of the surveyed companies use some
form of annual salary payment system. About 10% of these companies have
such a system in place, at even the team leader level. The percentage
of companies adopting this system rose 9.6 points from the previous year.
Compared to 1997, when the survey began, the percentage has increased
more than threefold.
Of the companies that adopt an annual salary system, 83.9% apply it
to managers, a percentage similar to 1997, and 67.8% of the companies
adopt the system among section chiefs, up 20.5 points from 1997.
The companies that adopted the system for team leaders as well as among
ordinary employees increased from 1.8% each in 1997 to 11.0% and 7.6%
respectively in 2001.
Of the companies that use a annual salary system, 44.1% also have
in place a system for handling complaints associated with work assessment,
but only 30.8% of the companies believe that their system makes it "easy"
for employees to file such complaints, indicating that the system is
not used as fully as it might be.
(Asahi Shimbun, February)
-Nissan to Re-Employ Former Employees-
Nissan Motor will introduce a system this April whereby it will
re-employ its former employees. Nissan has reduced its workforce by
21,000 over two years beginning in 1999, but the company will re-employ
500 of these former employees during fiscal 2002. Nissan will re-employ
its former employees to obtain the services of qualified personnel now
that their corporate restructuring efforts have borne fruit.
It is rare for major Japanese corporations to re-hire former employees.
Nissan hopes that it can re-employ many former business affairs and
technical employees, and to enable this, they will screen former
employees who wish to rejoin the company. Nissan has decided to take
the step of hiring dozens of its former workers at a time to "answer
requests from former employees who wish to work now that the company's
business is prospering again." Former employees qualifying for
re-employment will not include those who retired voluntarily to claim
higher-than-normal retirement benefits. Nissan will also increase the
number of technical staff that it will hire during the fiscal year.
These staff will be sent to work at Nissan's electronics and
telecommunications affiliates over the first two to three years.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, February)
-Sekisui House Adopts New Salary Scheme: Goal-An Annual Salary Exceeding
the President's-
Sekisui House (the leading housing company in Japan specializing in
design and construction of houses and buildings, urban redevelopment,
and real estate transactions) has adopted a salary scheme in which sales
personnel can receive more annual pay than the company president.
To make such a salary scheme possible, the company has abolished
the existing ceilings on the sales commissions and bonuses that sales
personnel receive. Before the new salary scheme, the best sales personnel
received salaries in the neighborhood of 10 million yen a year.
The new system will make it possible for them to receive more than
30 million yen in annual pay. The new salary scheme is emblematic of
the type of dynamic decision-making for which Sekisui President
Isami Wada, who in his 20s became a legend in his own time for his
sales performance, is known.
Sekisui's new scheme targets 5,000 sales personnel out of the company's
total 14,000 employees. Sales commissions under the scheme will target
sales for each fiscal year, whereas in the past, they targeted cumulative
sales. Payment ceilings will be abolished for two of the four annual
bonuses, but will be retained for the two remaining bonus payments,
which are positioned more as salary stipends.
Although it was possible in the past for young salespersons to obtain
annual salaries that exceeded those of their immediate superiors and
branch managers, this is the first time that they have been given a
chance to obtain salaries on a par with executives.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, February)
Special Issue
-Prime Minister Koizumi Delivers Administrative Policy Speech-
In February, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivered
his first administrative policy speech since becoming Prime Minister.
The speech was designed to enlarge on the general policy speech he
delivered after his inauguration and to give specific form to the
subsequent "meaty plans" that he promised.
We have reported in previous issues of JLF (Vol.2,Vol.3,Vol.10)
on the problems faced by the Koizumi government. Koizumi now sees
strong opposition from even within his own Liberal Democratic Party
as expected, where strong voices are calling for the Prime Minister
to place priority on avoiding a deflationary spiral rather than going
ahead with fiscal and economic reforms. Voices in opposition parties
also claim that his plans for privatizing road-related public
corporations and abolishing and consolidating governmental financial
institutions are too hasty.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002a/vol.14/policyspeech.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
