The JIL Labor Flash Vol.20
Email Journal 03.06.2002

   Statistical Reports
     Main Labor Economic Indicators
   Current Topics
     Forty percent of all Japanese workers have directly or indirectly
     experienced employment restructuring; 20% worry about job security
   Public Policies
     A proposal is made to shift the units of taxes and social security
     from households to individuals...etc
   News Clippings
     Tokyo characterized by dissatisfaction and stress...etc
   Special Issue
     Moves afoot to adopt wage-determining methods based on type of
     occupation

---

Statistical Reports

   -Main Labor Economic Indicators May 2002-
  
    http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/eshuyo/200205/econtents.htm

---

   Current Topics

   -Forty percent of all Japanese workers have directly or indirectly
    experienced employment restructuring; 20% worry about job security-

    The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) Research Institute
  for Advancement of Living Standards has released the results of a
  questionnaire survey on work and life of Japanese workers. The survey
  targeted 900 private company employees in their 20s to 50s who live
  in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kansai region. Responses were
  sent in from 832 people (effective response rate of 92.4%).
   
    When asked if the companies they work for had conducted any sort of
  employment adjustment over the past year, 52% said yes. When prompted
  to give more specific details, 44.1% cited "limits on overtime work,"
  43.3% cited "wage cuts," 40.0% cited "personnel reduction through
  dismissal and/or solicitation of voluntary retirement," 35.4% cited
  "reduction of new employment," and 29.1% cited "reduction or abolition
  of unprofitable departments and office closures," in that order.
  (The subjects gave multiple answers.)
 
    Close to 40% of the respondents stated that either they themselves
  or the people closest to them (such as family, relatives, friends
  and/or acquaintances) had experienced corporate bankruptcies, personnel
  reduction, dismissals, or unemployment.

    Against this gloomy background, moreover, one out of every five
  respondents (20.9%) stated that they themselves were worried that they
  might lose their jobs over the next year.

---

   Public Policies

   -A proposal is made to shift the units of taxes and social security
    from households to individuals-
  
    The Cabinet Office's Gender Equality Conference released an interim
  report on "The selection of lifestyles and the tax, social security,
  and employment systems."
 
    According to the interim report, a questionnaire survey was conducted
  in the fall of 2001, investigating the current status of, and future
  trends in, welfare programs, including spouse allowances, housing
  allowances, and retirement benefits. The survey targeted 3,466 companies
  listed in Section 1 of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and responses were
  sent in from 703 companies. Based on the findings of this survey, and
  from the perspective of creating a society in which both men and women
  participate jointly, the Conference proposed changing the tax, social
  security, and employment systems to those that remain neutral to the
  choice of lifestyles or jobs.
 
    Specifically, the report proposes the elimination of differences in
  treatment among the sexes and the reexamination of the categorization
  between regular and non-regular employees. Additionally, since family
  allowances, housing allowances, and corporate housing are provided
  based on household units, they may be distorting the neutrality of job
  selection. The report therefore proposes that this "household-based
  system" be reduced or abolished, that the amounts corresponding to
  these benefits be included in basic salary. Furthermore, because many
  companies determine their family allowances in accordance with tax
  systems and social security programs, the report called on the
  reexamination of these allowances.
 
    The survey revealed that 80% of the companies adopted the family
  allowance system, with an average of about 14,000 yen provided to a
  spouse and about 5,500 yen per child each month. Although approximately
  70% of the surveyed companies provided housing allowances, only 4.5%
  of these companies provided them to non-regular employees. Meanwhile,
  86.9% of the companies have established a retirement pension system.
  Of these, 80.7% provided severance pay depending on the length of
  service, with 14 years being the average number of years required.
  The report showed, however, that the average number of years female
  employees worked (10.1 years for large companies; 8.4 years for
  medium-scale companies; and 8.3 years for small-scale companies)
  was shorter than what was required to qualify.

   -White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan emphasizes
    the need to support bankrupted entrepreneurs who wish to start again-
   
    In its 2002 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises, the Ministry
  of Economy, Trade and Industry emphasized the need to establish an
  environment that supports corporate managers whose businesses have
  failed, to start again, and encourages women to start up businesses,
  so as to increase the number of "local or neighborhood entrepreneurs."
 
    Once a company goes bankrupt in Japan, the owner often ends up losing
  his or her entire assets. As a result, only 10% of these people become
  corporate managers again. This is in sharp contrast to the US, where
  over half of CEOs of failed companies return to run successful new
  businesses. The White Paper points out that, to revitalize the Japanese
  economy, the government should introduce a measure that expands the
  scope of assets that cannot be seized, even in the event of bankruptcy.

---

   News Clippings

   -Tokyo characterized by dissatisfaction and stress-
   
    Lactobacillus beverage manufacturer Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. conducted
  a survey in December 2001 targeting 300 men between the ages of 30 to
  49 living in Tokyo, New York, and London (100 men per city). The survey
  revealed the following.
 
    When asked if their priority in life was work or family, a majority
  of the respondents (56%) living in New York and London said that family
  was their top priority, while only 7% of the respondents living in
  Tokyo did. On the other hand, when asked if they were satisfied with
  their current job, 43% of the men living in New York and 35% of the
  men living in London said that they were extremely satisfied, while
  only 7% of the men living in Tokyo did.
   
    In addition, 29% of the men living in Tokyo stated that work made
  them stressful or tired, while only 11% of the New York men and 20%
  of the London men did. While 60% of the men living in the other two
  cities stated that their relationships with their superiors, subordinates,
  and colleagues were "extremely good," only 20% of the men living in
  Tokyo did.
 
    Yakult Honsha pointed out that numerous people in Japan are worried
  about their health, explaining that poor interpersonal relationships
  in the workplace may be affecting the employees' levels of stress and
  job satisfaction.
                                                  (Asahi Shimbun, May)
                                   

   -Experiencing internships on college campuses-
  
    ITS' DEMO, a shop selling selected brand items located on the campus
  of Jissen Women's University in Hino, Tokyo, hires university students
  as salespersons.
 
    The store was opened by apparel manufacturer World Co., Ltd. with
  the aim of providing work experience to the students. This is the
  first on-campus store of its kind in Japan.
 
    Jissen Women's University offers marketing theory, apparel production
  theory, and other classes as part of its curriculum, and decided to
  approve the introduction of the shop because, according to the Student
  Life Center, it feels that students can learn a lot by experiencing in
  real life things they have learned about in class. The university
  eventually plans to give out credits to students working in the store.
                                              (Yomiuri Shimbun, April)

   -Copier manufacturers to sharply increase their number of SEs-
  
    Ricoh Co., Ltd., Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. and other copier manufacturers
  will dramatically increase their number of systems engineers (SEs).
  Five major companies plan to hire a total of about 3,000 such individuals
  in the next three years.
 
    With the spread of digital copiers, there is a growing demand for
  systems that connect these copiers to PCs and other information
  equipment via networks. The companies will rush to upgrade their
  models to next-generation models that focus more on software than
  on hardware.
 
    These companies suffer a shortage of SEs in general. In short supply,
  besides those engaged in the development sector who work to enhance
  the copiers' basic functions, are those in the sales sector tasked
  with building networks between information systems and copiers in
  response to customer requests.
 
    Ricoh, Japan's top copier manufacturer in terms of domestic sales,
  plans to increase the approximately 1,500 SEs working throughout the
  world to about 2,500 in three years' time. Meanwhile, fourth-ranked
  Sharp will increase the number of SEs engaged in domestic sales.
  The company will also build a development center in China and recruit
  about 1,000 development-type SEs over the next three years.
                                           (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, May)

---

   Special Issue

   -Moves afoot to adopt wage-determining methods based on type of
    occupation-
   
    In this year's spring labor offensive, international competitive
  strength became the central labor-management issue, and as a result,
  most companies responded with zero basic wage hikes. Because of this,
  the Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union ("Denki
  Rengo") has decided to begin conducting in June of this year a fact
  -finding survey to investigate the status of wages by occupation.
  Denki Rengo's goal is to replace the existing method of determining
  wages with a system of categorizing wages by type of occupation.
  This planned wage-determining system aims at improving the wage level
  for each occupational category, and at applying the same wage level
  throughout the industry.
   
  Continued on;
   http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002a/vol.20/wage_methods.html

---

   What's New in our English website  --Labor Information in Japan--

   Guide to Human Resource Management
   -Comparative HRM between Japan and the US-
  
    This guide is designed for the Human Resources (HR) manager who wants
  to learn more about current Japanese HR management thinking and practices.
  You will recognize through this guide that Japanese companies often have
  their own unique approaches to key HR issues.

   http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/library/documents/hrm_us.pdf (PDF:189KB)