The Japan Labor Flash
No.20
Email Journal August 2, 2004
JILPT Information
WORKSHOP ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND LABOUR MARKET IN ASIA
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
Thirty percent of companies negatively assess "freeter" job
experience
Public Policies
The National Personnel Authority's study group proposes diverse
work styles for the public service sectors …etc
News Clippings
Annual remuneration of board directors of 100 leading listed
companies averaged 32 million yen …etc
Special Issue
Results of the Upper House election and the Koizumi Administration's
next move
JILPT Information
On February 5-6, 2004, we, JILPT, held an International Workshop on
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND LABOUR MARKET IN ASIA.
You can see the summary and conclusions of the workshop on our web site.
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/events/0205_report.html
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200408/index.htm
Current Topics
-Thirty percent of companies negatively assess "freeter" job
experience-
The results of a 2004 survey on employment management, announced by
the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on July 2, showed that only
3.6% of the companies surveyed regard the past job experiences of part
-time job-hoppers ("freeters") positively when hiring them as
regular,
full-time employees, while 30.3% said that they assessed such experiences
negatively.
According to the Ministry's definition, "freeters" are "young
people
between the ages of 15 and 34 who move from one short-term part-time
job to another." This survey targeted private-sector companies throughout
Japan that had 30 or more employees as of January 1, 2004. A total of
4,266 companies sent in their answers.
As reasons for their negative assessments, many companies said that
these people lacked perseverance ("they would just quit on the spur
of the moment") and a sense of responsibility, but 61.9% said that
these work experiences had little or no influence on their views on
the person.
When asked if they set age limits when hiring people, most companies
(34%) said they did not, "as long as applicants were under 35."
However, only 12% of the companies actually hired freeters as full-time
employees during the past year.
These findings support the view that being a freeter ultimately
works to his or her disadvantage in today's labor market. This may
serve as a wake-up call to job-hopping youths.
Public Policies
-The National Personnel Authority's study group proposes diverse work
styles for the public service sectors-
The National Personnel Authority's study group on diverse work styles
recently published an intermediate report that showed its basic views
on making the working hours of people working in public service sectors
more flexible and diverse. The group proposed various measures to help
people work and raise a family at the same time, from the perspective
of assisting in nurturing the next generation. Specifically, the report
proposes a system of shorter working hours that would be applied to
staff workers who are raising children or taking care of the elderly,
as well as work-at-home programs that give more flexibility to where
an employee works. The report focuses especially on employees of central
government ministries and agencies who are constantly working long hours,
and indicates the need to clear away such work patterns.
-The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds a fair to promote
"U-turn" * and "I-turn" ** employment-
On July 24 and 25, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare held
the U- and I-Turn Employment Fair for FY2004 in Tokyo to support
increase in employment in regional areas. The event was carried out
with the cooperation of 257 companies, and called on both university
seniors who are planning to graduate next spring, as well as past
university graduates, to attend. No CVs were required, and no dress
codes were imposed. Employment interviews were held between companies
based in regional areas and applicants residing in the Tokyo metropolitan
area wishing to work in such companies.
Information on regional living was provided to assist those who are
thinking of taking on jobs in corporations outside large cities.
An area was also set up to provide opportunities for working in
agriculture, forestry and fisheries, where the aging of workers is
becoming a serious problem.
* U-turn employment is when a person attends school or works in the
city away from home, and eventually returns to work at one's home
ground.
**I-turn employment is when a person leaves one's home in the city
to work in regional areas.
News Clippings
-Annual remuneration of board directors of 100 leading listed companies
averaged 32 million yen-
A Nihon Keizai Shimbun survey revealed that board directors of 100
major listed companies had received annual remuneration of \32 million
on average for the fiscal term ended March 2004.
Nissan Motor was the highest-paying company, providing over \200
million to its board directors, while 26 companies paid between \10
and \20 million. Institutional investors and other shareholders have
been rigorously checking to see if the executives' remuneration
accurately reflects their company's business performance. The debate
on remuneration standard will most likely heat up.
Of the listed companies with March account settlement, the survey
targeted the top 100 companies in terms of their total stock market
value at the end of March. Disclosure of the total remuneration value
for board directors and auditors began with the previous period's
securities reports. Four companies did not disclose the amount of
board directors' remuneration.
The average annual salary of employees working at these 100 major
companies was \8 million, and board directors received four times that
amount. In comparison, top executives of leading US companies are said
to make over \900 million on average. As can be seen, a large difference
exists between Japan and US in their board directors' remuneration.
The top five companies were Nissan Motor (\235 million), Takeda
Chemical Industries (\149 million), Nitto Denko Corporation (\73 million),
Mitsubishi Estate Co. (\66 million), and Nomura Securities (\55 million).
US$=\111 (August 2, 2004)
See JLF No.18, News Clippings;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/18.html
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July)
-Japanese women want 1.98 children on average-
An awareness survey conducted jointly by marriage information
service companies in Japan and South Korea revealed that the number
of children women want to have in the future was 1.98 for Japan and
2.03 for South Korea. The survey targeted a total of 1,033 unmarried
men and women in both countries, aged 24 to 33.
Declining birthrates are becoming a serious social problem in
these countries. Their total fertility rates are among the lowest
in the world, with Japan posting 1.29 in 2003 and South Korea posting
1.17 in 2002.
Financial burdens such as educational costs topped the list of
reasons in both countries, cited by 74.3% of the Japanese respondents
and 84.9% of the South Korean respondents. A difference was seen in
the second most frequently-cited reason: 68.1% of the Japanese
respondents said that the declining birthrate was attributable to
an increase in people not getting married, whereas 66.1% of their
South Korean counterparts cited insufficient childcare support programs
provided by corporations.
The number of children Japanese men want in the future was 2.1,
which surpassed the number wanted by Japanese women. South Korean men
said that they want 2.0 children.
(Asahi Shimbun, July)
Special Issue
-Results of the Upper House election and the Koizumi Administration's
next move-
The Japanese Diet adopts a two-house system comprising the House of
Representatives (Lower House) and the House of Councilors (Upper House).
Members of the Upper House have a term of office lasting 6 years, and
half of them are reelected once every three years. At the previous
election held three years ago, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
lost seats in the Upper House and was expected to face a tough battle
this year.
There were two major issues for the voters to decide in this
election: whether or not to support the Pension Reform Law that was
recently enacted, and the dispatch of the Self Defense Forces to Iraq.
Both were policies that the Koizumi Administration had established and
implemented. Attention was focused on the verdict of the Japanese people
on these moves.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2004/no.20/administration.html
