The JIL Labor Flash Vol.23
Email Journal 15.07.2002
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
Only 8.5% of all companies surveyed stress lifetime employment
...etc
Public Policies
White Paper on Gender Equality
News Clippings
Mitsubishi Corporation adopts new point system for retirement
allowances...etc
Special Issue
The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) to abandon making
unified pay raise demands in future spring joint labor negotiations
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports-
Features
Annual Counts of Monthly Report of Population Trend Survey
(Round Figures, 2001)
National Accounts (Preliminary Quarterly Estimates of Expenditure
Jan.-Mar.)
Basic Survey on Human Resource Development (FY2001) ...etc
http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/e2002-06.htm
Current Topics
-Only 8.5% of all companies surveyed stress lifetime employment-
In late June, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced
the results of its survey on private companies' promotion and personnel
management systems. The survey found that, as of January of this year,
only 8.5% of the companies stressed the practice of lifetime employment,
a sharp decline from the 45.3% posted in the previous survey conducted
in 1999. This was the lowest figure recorded since the survey began
in 1988. (The latest survey targeted 5,841 corporations employing 30
or more employees at their Head Office; the response rate was 73.9%.)
By scale of business, the figures were 14.2% for companies with
5,000 employees or more, and 7.9% for companies with fewer than 100
people. Conversely, 48.6% of the companies answered that they were
not bound by the practice of lifetime employment (the figure was 45.3%
in the previous survey).
Only 0.8% of the companies surveyed stressed the seniority system,
while 55.9% emphasized employee performance and abilities. This tendency
was more marked in larger companies than smaller ones: 79.1% of companies
with 5,000 employees or more were found to be performance-oriented.
These figures reveal that the employment practices of Japanese companies
are undergoing changes.
-Shareholders' meetings of Japanese companies changing-
June is the season for shareholders' meetings of companies that
settle their accounts at the end of March. A total of 2,022 companies,
including 1,313 companies listed on Section 1 of the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, held their annual meetings this month.
Until now, shareholders' meetings of Japanese companies were
generally quiet and brief, with shareholders primarily listening
to corporate reports given by board directors. With a series of
unpleasant incidents making headline news in recent years, however,
including the lingering recession and slumping business results,
plunging stock prices, scandals in financial and food companies,
and personnel cuts, shareholders have become increasingly unhappy
with corporate managers. This year's annual meetings are dramatically
different from those in the past, with shareholders playing an
unprecedentedly active role during the proceedings.
Many posed challenging questions and stated their views, while others
proposed alternative agendas and even browbeat top managers into
explaining and taking responsibility for faltering business performance.
Giving in to shareholders' persistent demands, major companies,
including Toshiba, Kao, and Nippon Steel have for the first time
disclosed their board members' remuneration, while Snow Brand Milk
Products decided to select external board directors and set up a
committee to monitor product safety. Some companies' annual meetings
turned out to be eight-hour-long battles. However, some media report
that many shareholders' meetings saw little change, with managers
simply making repeated apologies and declaring their determination
to do better, instead of giving direct answers to shareholders'
questions.
Public Policies
-White Paper on Gender Equality-
The Cabinet Office released on June 18 the 2002 Edition of the White
Paper on Gender-equality "FY 2001 Annual Report on the State of Formation
of a Gender-equal Society" and "Policies to be Implemented in FY 2002 to
Promote the Formation of a Gender-equal Society".
The White Paper first revealed that the percentage of women among
members of the Diet and various councils is increasing, showing that
more women are taking part in the policy decision-making process than
ever before. Specifically, there were 36 female Lower House members
(accounting for 7.5% of the total) as of January 2002, and 38 female
Upper House members in 2001 (accounting for 15.4% of the total).
Meanwhile, 24.7% of all Council members were women as of September 2001.
Increased participation of women is particularly noteworthy in the
legal sector. The percentage of women passing the state law examination
jumped from 8.4% in FY1976 to 22.5% in FY2001.
The number of female national government workers has continued to
grow since FY1985. On grading by occupation, 34.3% of Grade 1 officials
who carry out standardized operations are accounted for by women.
However, the percentage drops as the grades rise. A little over 10%
of Ministry chief clerk are women, while only about 1% of posts
equivalent to section heads are held by women.
The White Paper also showed women's participation status according
to prefecture. Although the share of female assembly members is high
in large urban areas such as Tokyo (20.1%), Kanagawa (17.3%) and
Osaka (14.6%), the labor force participation rate of women in their
30s--the child-rearing age--was higher in local areas such as Yamagata
Prefecture (76.2%). Tokyo was ranked 35th at 58.3%, and Kanagawa 46th
at 51.2%. The White Paper also showed similar tendencies in terms of
the number of years of work (or duration of service), concluding that
the high labor participation rate among women in local areas was
enabled by family support, such as living with parents.
As for the issue of working and raising a family at the same time,
the White Paper showed that not too many men helped out in housework
and childcare, noting that improving this situation was also extremely
important.
The White Paper pointed out that substantial differences in salary
still exist between men and women, with the latter earning only 65.5%
of what men earned in 2000. The wage gap between men and women part-time
workers, in particular, has expanded each year, with the latter earning
only 49.1%, or less than half, of what the men earned. The White Paper
called for a setup to allow workers to fully demonstrate their skills
and abilities, and to be treated fairly, regardless of gender.
http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/index.html
released by Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
News Clippings
-Mitsubishi Corporation adopts new point system for retirement
allowances-
Mitsubishi Corporation will introduce by the end of the year a point
system that relates personal achievements to the level of retirement
allowances offered. Under this system, the results of annual personnel
evaluations are accumulated as points, and retirement allowances are
paid according to the total points earned. Until now, the amount was
calculated based on the number of years of service and base pay on
retirement. However, under the new personnel system introduced in
FY2000, base pay is no longer uniform but varies according to work
category. There was thus a danger that, if an employee's work category
were to be downgraded immediately prior to retirement, his or her
retirement allowance would be cut. The point system prevents such
mishaps from occurring. At the same time, employees who have performed
exceptionally well despite having worked with the company for a short
period are entitled to receive a retirement allowance that reflects his
or her outstanding achievements.
A number of companies have already implemented similar point systems
for retirement allowances, including Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. and
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July)
-District Court orders Kawasaki City to pay damages to family of
employee who committed suicide-
A lawsuit instituted by the parents of a male staff member at
Kawasaki City's Waterworks Bureau who had committed suicide demanded
that the city government and three of the individual's superiors pay
compensation, since the suicide was caused by workplace bullying.
The Kawasaki Branch of the Yokohama District Court acknowledged that
the death was indeed caused by workplace bullying, and ordered the
city to pay 23.46 million yen as compensation.
According to the ruling, the District Court recognized that the
victim's psychogenic reactions were triggered by persistent bullying,
and that City officials had failed to stop the bullying or to ensure
the employee's safety by taking appropriate countermeasures.
The District Court dismissed the claim for damages from the superiors,
explaining that individuals are not held responsible for reparation
of damages that occur in association with official duties.
(Mainichi Shimbun, June)
-Itochu Corporation to set up a department to provide counseling
services to employees-
Itochu Corporation will set up a Career Counseling Office in July
to provide counseling services to employees with family, work, and
other problems. This was in response to the growing number of
employees suffering stress and other personal problems with the
spread of corporate restructuring and performance-oriented business
practices. Itochu is one of the very few Japanese companies that
have a counseling department exclusively for white-collar workers.
The company is reportedly considering forming such services into a
business enterprise.
(Asahi Shimbun, June)
Special Issue
-The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) to abandon making
unified pay raise demands in future spring joint labor negotiations-
In a report on this year's spring joint labor negotiations ("shunto"),
Rengo commented that unions generally failed to make any incremental
improvements to labor conditions such as wages. The reasons were that,
in the present context of the employment environment reaching a critical
point and sharply deteriorating corporate business performance,
(1) many organizations were forced to make job security their primary
goal, and (2) the negotiations focused on international competitiveness
and labor costs and on how they should be identified.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2002b/vol.23/rengo.html
