The JIL Labor Flash Vol.41
Email Journal 01.05.2003
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Half of all part-time workers doing the same job as regular workers
Public Policies
The goal is to make 30% of Japan's leaders women by the year 2020
News Clippings
Popular "trendy" buildings seem to be the goal when switching jobs
or seeking reemployment ...etc
Special Issue
The M-shaped distribution of working women becoming smoother
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators April 2003-
http://www.jil.go.jp/estatis/eshuyo/200304/econtents.htm
Current Topics
-Half of all part-time workers doing the same job as regular workers-
We covered the findings of a survey a while back (News Clippings,
JLF Vol. 37) describing how the work of part-time employees was not
being rewarded properly. This survey was conducted by AiDEM Co. Their
People and Work Research Institute recently published a White Paper on
Part-time Workers which revealed that half of all part-time employees
were doing exactly the same work as regular, full-time employees.
According to the White Paper, 17.5% of all the companies regarded
both full-time and part-time employees as "doing the same jobs and
given the same degree of responsibility," and 35.7% felt that "they
did the same jobs but were given a different degree of responsibility."
If these two were added up, close to half of all the companies assigned
the same work to part-time and full-time employees. Only 9.0% said that
they assigned completely different jobs to these employees.
Meanwhile, from the part-time workers' perspective, 19.4% responded
that they were doing the same job and were given the same degree of
responsibility, while 30.8% said that they were doing the same work
but given a different degree of responsibility. If these two were
added up, half of all the part-time workers felt that they were doing
the same work as full-time employees. At the same time, 13.4% said
that they were doing completely different jobs.
As for wages, 54.0% of the individuals felt that they were receiving
pay that more or less matched their work. If this and the 6.5% who
responded that they were receiving pay that was worth more than they
contributed were added together, 60% of all the individuals felt that
they were getting wages that matched the content and level of their
work. In contrast, 34.5% felt that they were receiving lower pay than
they deserved.
The survey targeted AiDEM's 18,152 client companies that responded
to a questionnaire conducted in November 2002. Responses were sent in
by 629 companies. As for individual respondents, an Internet survey
was conducted in October 2002, and answers were obtained by 2,818 people
via the Internet.
Public Policies
-The goal is to make 30% of Japan's leaders women by the year 2020-
The government's Gender Equality Conference has been studying Measures
to Assist Women's Challenges since January 2001, under the instructions
of Prime Minister Koizumi. The Conference recently compiled their final
report.
The report clearly set forth the goal of raising the share of women
assuming leadership positions in the administration, corporations,
research institutes, and all other sectors, to 30% by the year 2020.
To further promote positive actions, the report also indicates what
form the assistance programs and measures should take.
The Cabinet Office plans to conduct investigations, including the
possibility of enforcing legislative measures to give concrete form
to this plan, and compile a report by the end of this fiscal year.
According to the Human Development Report 2001 announced by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Japan was ranked 32nd
out of the 66 countries in terms of the Gender Empowerment Measure
(GEM) that indicates the degree of female participation in politics
and business. Meanwhile, according to the World Economic Forum's
Global Competitiveness Report 2001-2002, Japan was ranked 69th of
the 75 countries in terms of women's economic activity status.
As can be seen, Japan is ranked extremely low.
In this regard, the final report expressed serious concern by stating
"Other countries feel that, although Japanese women are potentially
extremely competent, they are given few or no opportunities to demonstrate
such abilities in economic and political activities".
The report also stressed that, although four years have passed since
the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society was enforced in 1999, promotion
of gender equality still remains an urgent and necessary task for Japan.
News Clippings
-Popular "trendy" buildings seem to be the goal when switching jobs
or seeking reemployment-
Construction of one "trendy" building after another is being completed
in the heart of Tokyo. The first to set off this move was the Marunouchi
Building (the "Marubiru"), renovated in 2002 as part of an urban
redevelopment project. This year, buildings equipped with office
functions as well as commercial and entertainment facilities were
completed in the Shiodome and Roppongi areas. More are planned to be
completed in the coming years. The popularity of tenant companies in
these new buildings is skyrocketing among young, job-hunting women.
When hunting for jobs, women place more importance on their place
of work than men. According to a nationwide Internet survey conducted
in 2002 by the Sanno Institute of Management (number of respondents:
4,100), place of work was ranked second after salary in the items the
respondents emphasized when switching jobs or seeking reemployment
(multiple answers were accepted). This tendency was more marked among
women, with close to 60% of the female respondents stressing the
importance of their place of work. This was 7 percentage points higher
than that of their male counterparts.
It appears that many women even restrict their place of work to a
certain area, revealing the fact that, given the same working conditions,
they would choose downtown Tokyo or other fashionable areas that offer
exciting things to do after work. It is true that the new "trendy"
buildings appeal to females. It is also a fact that these new, high
-profile buildings tend to draw companies and facilities that are
beating the current economic recession, making them highly attractive
as employers, too.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, April)
-Cost of raising children from birth to 6 years of age-
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released the results of
its research on childrearing costs, a sponsored survey carried out
by the Kodomo Mirai Zaidan (Foundation for Children's Futures).
According to the survey, the total annual cost of raising infants
under the age of 1 was about 506,000 yen on average, while the costs
related to pregnancy and delivery was about 504,000 yen. Together,
the expenses totaled about 1 million yen.
Meanwhile, the cost of raising children between the ages of 1 and 3
was about 500,000 yen per year; and that for children between the
ages of 4 and 6, about 650,000 yen. If the costs from birth to before
starting elementary school (age 6) were added, they would total 4.4
million yen. The higher the household annual income, moreover, the
higher the childrearing costs, indicating that expenditures rise in
parallel with disposable income.
As for expenditures related to kindergarten and nursery school,
mothers who were employed either on a full-time or part-time basis
tended to spend more than those who were housewives. By type of school
(i.e., public or private), parents of children attending private schools
paid more, regardless of the children's ages. The difference was the
most marked at kindergarten level.
The survey was conducted last October via the Internet, in a
questionnaire format, and compiled the answers sent in by 1,552 female
monitors with children aged 0 to 6.
1US$≒\118 (May 2003)
(Shukan Rodo News, April)
Special Issue
-The M-shaped distribution of working women becoming smoother-
The 2002 edition of "The Actual Status of Working Women" (White
Paper on Women's Labor) released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and
Welfare revealed several conspicuous changes. Among these is the share
of working women in the 30-34 age group (the period when the number of
women in employment tends to fall because of marriage or childbirth)
rose 1.5% to 60.3%, topping the 60% mark for the first time. Another
is that the share for which women accounted in the total number of
employees continued to grow, reaching 40.5%.
For comparison purposes, Japan's female labor force (the total of
employed persons and totally unemployed persons) was 27.33 million
in 2002, which was 270,000 fewer than the previous year, or down 1.0%.
The number of female employed persons was 25.94 million, which was
350,000 fewer than the previous year, or down 1.5%. Similarly, the
number of female employees decreased for the first time in three years
to 21.61 million, which was 70,000 fewer than the previous year, or
down 0.3%. Despite this, the proportion of women in the total number
of employees continued to grow. This is attributable to the drastic
drop in the number of male employees to 31.7 million, which was 310,000
fewer than the previous year, or down 1.0%.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2001-2003/2003a/vol.41/whitepaper_womens.htm
