The Japan Labor Flash
No.32
Email Journal February 15, 2005
JILPT Information
The Japan Labor Flash Reader Questionnaire
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
The Metropolitan Government's refusal to screen a prospective applicant
for a managerial post on grounds of nationality was constitutional,
the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court rules
Public Policies
Labor Policy Council provides new construction-sector labor measures
and submits a report to an outline of a bill to revise the Handicapped
Person's Employment Promotion Law
News Clippings
Japanese people unique in wishing to continue working into their
60s …etc.
-Subsidizing the childcare expenses of female temporary workers-
Special Issue
A Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union survey
reveals how people in the industry view their long working hours
JILPT Information
The Japan Labor Flash Reader Questionnaire
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Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports January 2005-
Features
Survey on Wage Increase (2004)
Report on Employment Service (December and 2004) ...etc.
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2005/e2005-01.htm
Current Topics
-The Metropolitan Government's refusal to screen a prospective
applicant for a managerial post on grounds of nationality was
constitutional, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court rules-
Kyodo News has reported that, regarding the ruling by the appellate
court pertaining to a lawsuit contending whether or not the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government's refusal to allow its employee to take a
screening test for managerial posts, citing non-Japanese nationality
as the reason, violated the Constitution that ensures equality under
the law, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court set forth on January 26
its first declaration of judgment, stating that the measure taken by
the Metropolitan Government had distinguished Japanese staff members
from non-Japanese staff members based on rational and justifiable
reasons, and did not violate the Constitution.
This conclusion was reached based on a majority opinion of 13 of
the 15 judges. Judge Shigeo Takii, a former attorney, and Judge
Tokuji Izumi, a former court judge, took the position that a refusal
to allow the candidate to take an examination was unconstitutional.
Local municipalities throughout Japan have been appointing a growing
number of non-Japanese nationals to work as staff members. This Grand
Bench ruling, that broadly approved the discretion of municipalities,
is likely to affect future practice pertaining to personnel affairs.
In citing reasons for the ruling, the Grand Bench indicated in its
initial judgment that the Local Public Service Law does not prohibit
the hiring of non-Japanese nationals residing in Japan as general
local public service employees. Regarding their treatment, however,
the Grand Bench judged that, even if non-Japanese employees were
treated differently from their Japanese counterparts, it did not
violate the Constitution as long as there were rational reasons for
doing so.
That said, the Grand Bench pointed out that insofar as public
service workers who (1) exercise public authority that directly
formulates residents’rights and obligations and determines their
scope, and (2) make decisions concerning important measures and
participate in the decision-making process, and concerned, appointment
of non-Japanese nationals to such duties is not being assumed, in
light of the principle of sovereignty of the people.
Although there are cases in which non-Japanese nationals can take
up other managerial posts, the Grand Bench stated that the decision
on establishing a unified appointment system that includes such
managerial posts is left up to the municipalities, and concluded
that measures to restrict the promotion to managerial posts to
Japanese nationals constitute a differentiation based on rational
reasons, and do not violate the Labor Standards Law or the
Constitution.
In their counterarguments, meanwhile, Judge Takii remarked that
he could find no rational grounds for uniformly excluding non
-Japanese nationals from all managerial posts, and that such acts
constituted illegal discrimination. Judge Izumi, meanwhile, stated
that special permanent residents in Japan such as Ms. Chong Hyang
Gyun are entitled to receive no restrictions to their employment,
and to enjoy the principle of equality and the freedom to choose
their occupations, both of which are guaranteed under the Constitution.
Thus, restriction of such rights demands even more rigorous
justifiability and reasonableness, he added.
Public Policies
-Labor Policy Council provides new construction-sector labor measures
and submits a report to an outline of a bill to revise the Handicapped
Person's Employment Promotion Law-
In January, the Labor Policy Council compiled a report on new labor
measures in the construction sector. Citing specific examples, the
Council called for the implementation of measures such as (1) assisting
enterprise owners' entry into new business areas, (2) promoting the
efficient transfer to other jobs of people who have ceased to work
in the construction sector, (3) creating a new labor force supply
-demand system in an emergency evacuation-like manner and under
restrictive conditions, and (4) promoting the fostering and securing
of the necessary skilled workers.
Japan's construction industry has continued to contribute to
advancing the social infrastructure and to increasing jobs. It built
roads, bridges, the new Shinkansen bullet trains, and public facilities
throughout Japan, based mostly on investment in public works, and
played a part in Japan's high economic growth. However, the situation
showed a dramatic turnaround with the collapse of the bubble economy
in 1990.
Private-sector investments, which totaled approximately 85 trillion
yen in 1990, plunged sharply to approximately 55 trillion yen in 2003.
The number of employed workers also dropped from 6.85 million in 1997
to 6.04 million in 2003. Still, taking Japan's industry as a whole,
this sector is the most strongly perceived as having too many workers.
Now that social capital has been reinforced to a certain extent,
the trend of cutting investments in public works is expected to
continue into the future. The industry faces other problems as well,
such as the aging of construction workers and a predicted shortage
of skilled laborers.
This explains why the need for new labor countermeasures in the
construction sector is being argued.
In response to this Labor Policy Council report, the Ministry of
Health, Labour and Welfare plans to submit to the Diet a bill to
revise the Law to Improve Employment in the Construction Sector.
The same day, moreover, the Council stated its view that the
outline of the bill to amend the Handicapped Person's Employment
Promotion Law was appropriate. The revised law focuses primarily
on the following three points: (1) boosting measures to employ
mentally handicapped persons (application of the quota system for
employment of disabled persons, etc.), (2) assistance to disabled
persons working at home, and (3) organic collaboration with welfare
programs for disabled persons, etc. The Ministry will submit an
amendment bill to the current session of the Diet. The planned
enforcement date is April 2006.
News Clippings
-Japanese people unique in wishing to continue working into their 60s-
Last October, AXA, France's major life insurance group, conducted
a survey on life after retirement. The survey, carried out in Europe,
the US and fifteen Asian countries, targeting a total of 9,200
respondents with approximately 300 people representing workers and
retirees, respectively, in each country, revealed the following.
As the ideal age of retirement, Japanese workers and retirees cited
61 and 65, the highest among all the countries polled.
Conversely, the country whose people wished to retire at the youngest
age was Singapore, with 54 years cited by its workers and 60 by its
retirees.
When asked about their degree of satisfaction with the amount of
pension they would receive in the future, Japan scored the lowest,
with only 10% of the workers and 35% of the retirees replying either
"extremely satisfied" or "satisfied." This differed
sharply from the
Netherlands, which scored the highest satisfaction level of 68%.
Sixty-eight percent of Japanese workers and 75% of retirees agreed
with raising retirement allowances. These numbers suggest the Japanese
people's feeling of anxiety about the future, including pensions and
public assistance, that is their reluctance to retire from work early,
and their desire to continue working.
(Asahi Shimbun, January)
-Subsidizing the childcare expenses of female temporary workers-
Fuji Staff, a major personnel placement company, announced that it
has introduced a childcare subsidy program targeting female staff
members whom they dispatch to work on a temporary basis. Subsidies
will be provided to women who send their young children to non
-registered day care facilities which, although have relatively few
children on their waiting lists, charge high fees. If temporary
dispatch agencies can ensure extended employment by helping their
staff to work and raise children successfully at the same time, they,
too, can benefit tremendously from the program, the company said.
Those eligible to receive subsidies are women who have an employment
contract of 3 or more months and who send their children, aged under 3,
to non-registered day care facilities. Fuji Staff provides 30% of the
day care fees, with an upper limit set, that these women pay to the
facility. Subsidies will be provided for up to 1 year. (Nikkei Sangyo
Shimbun, January)
Public Policies
-A Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union survey
reveals how people in the industry view their long working hours-
The Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union recently
announced the findings of their fact-finding lifestyle survey. The
results reveal the actual status of the long working hours of people
in the electrical machinery industry, and how these individuals feel
about them.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/no.32/32_si.html
