The JIL Labor Flash Vol.39
Email Journal 01.04.2003
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Share of part-time workers exceeds 60% of supermarket
employees for the first time ...etc
Public Policies
The Subcommittee on Equal Employment compiles a draft of its final
report on part-time work measures
News Clippings
JTB boosts its welfare service agency business ...etc
Special Issue
Crucial stages of 2003 spring joint labor negotiations now over
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators March 2003-
http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/eshuyo/200303/econtents.htm
-TANKAN-
Short-term Economic Survey of Entreprises in Japan
-Tuesday April 1, released by the Bank of Japan
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/stat/tk/tk0303.htm
Current Topics
-Share of part-time workers exceeds 60% of supermarket employees for
the first time-
According to the Japan Chain Stores Association, part-time workers
in 2002, accounted for 62.3% of the entire workforce of the 102 member
stores' 436,160 employees. This is the first time the share has topped
the 60% mark.
There were 107,299 regular male employees, a record low since 1984,
and only 57,096 regular female employees, which was close to half the
peak figure posted in 1990.
Ever since the share of part-time workers exceeded 50% for the first
time in 1994, it has continued to rise steadily. Part-time workers
comprised 248,683 women and 23,082 men.
These figures show that supermarkets are scrambling to hire more
part-time workers--who earn lower wages than regular employees--in a
bid to reduce expenses to cope with the steady decline in consumer
spending brought about by the current deflationary business recession.
-Results of an awareness survey on work and career show that individuals
regard job switching as a way of enhancing their careers-
The Sanno Institute of Management conducted an Internet survey on
work and careers, and obtained responses from 4,100 people. The survey
revealed that 70% of the respondents acknowledged that job switching
helped enhance their careers.
This awareness survey was conducted in response to the growing
interest in personal careers as a result of the crumbling of Japan's
traditional employment practices such as lifetime employment and the
seniority system. This growing interest stemmed from the recognition
that individuals are responsible for developing their own professional
careers.
Other major findings included the following:
① Half of all the respondents were aware of their own career plans.
② The largest number of respondents cited "35 years and below" as the
age most suited to switching jobs.
③ The respondents felt that the type of occupation most amenable to
job switching was technical and engineering work. Moreover,
④ Sony was the top-rated company the respondents would like to work
at if they were to switch jobs or to become re-employed.
Public Policies
-The Subcommittee on Equal Employment compiles a draft of its final
report on part-time work measures-
A draft of the final report on the fair treatment of regular and
part-time employees, which was submitted by the Secretariat on March
13 to the Subcommittee on Equal Employment of the Labour Policy Council,
Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, was approved, unchanged in
priciple, on March 18. For a while, discussions on this draft, entitled
"The direction of future part-time work measures," failed to reach
any agreement, with sharp differences seen between delegates representing
labor, who stressed the need for the measures to be given legal force
to make them more effective, and delegates representing management who
insisted that even guidelines should not be issued.
Although the draft of the final report recognizes that necessary
laws should be enforced steadily, it states that, for the time being,
the subcommittee will set up a guidelines to indicate the views on
the treatment of part-time workers that take "balancing with ordinary
workers" into consideration, and that, in so doing, try to publicize
this view. The draft virtually suggests that legislation of the
measures be postponed.
The draft also cites a number of modifications related to "Guidelines
for measures that employers must carry out" under the existing Law
Concerning the Improvement of Employment Management, etc., of Part
-Time Workers, as well as a number of items that should be newly
stipulated.
Until now, Rengo has not shown much interest in measures to improve
the treatment of part-time and limited-period contract employees.
However, it has declared its firm commitment to tackle this issue on
a fully-fledged scale. It had planned to call a meeting of part-time
workers and organize a parade during this year's spring joint labor
negotiations, demanding equal treatment for part-time and limited
-period contract employees, and has made efforts to have the legislation
incorporated in the said draft of the final report.
News Clippings
-JTB boosts its welfare service agency business-
JTB will boost its welfare service agency business and increase the
menu of services provided to member corporations through its 100%
business subsidiary, JTB Benefit. The company has increased the number
of its subsidiary's employees from 45 to 80, and established a third
business office in Nagoya, following Tokyo and Osaka. JTB aims at
gaining 1 million members by FY2005 (currently 380,000). A growing
number of companies have been outsourcing their welfare services,
primarily to cut costs. JTB Benefit predicts that the welfare service
agency business will comprise a market of 10 million people in the
near future.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, March)
-Young people opting to become craftsmen-
For a long time, older craftsmen and artisans had a difficult time
finding people who would take over their work and carry on their skills.
However, things are changing. Some types of business sectors are seeing
an increase in the number of young people aiming to become craftsmen.
Fields that are especially popular include watches, shoes, and other
fashion items, as well as the manufacture of products with high added
value such as carpentry work for temples and shrines, as well as
patisserie.
With the job market remaining bleak, many young people are trying
to acquire special skills and become independent in the belief that
their future is not automatically secure if they work only as corporate
employees. However, they are not truly ready to embrace traditional
craft training, which takes long years of apprenticeship under a master
before going independent.
Sources analyze the situation as follows. "The recent trend, as I
see it, is for a growing number of people wanting to become independent
as quickly as possible and run their own stores," (President of the
Esperanza Institute of Footwear Design and Technique), and "It appears
that one of the reasons for becoming a craftsman is to avoid office
politics" (the president of a magazine specializing in shoes).
However, many are said to become too intent on making a quick success
and become discouraged after seeing at first hand the actual conditions
under which craftsmen work.
(Sankei Shimbun, March)
Special Issue
-Crucial stages of 2003 spring joint labor negotiations now over-
Labor had prepared for this year's shunto, or spring joint labor
negotiations, by strongly stressing employment security and giving
up making basic wage hike demands. We have been reporting regularly
on the views and assertions of both labor and management. This year's
spring joint labor negotiations have come to a close, more or less,
with major metal industrial unions receiving their response on March
12. From here on, the spotlight will shift to negotiations of small
-to medium-scale unions as well as local industrial groups.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2003a/emm/vol.39/shunto_03.html
