The Japan Labor Flash
No.35
Email Journal April 1, 2005
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators …etc.
Current Topics
More companies hiring more people
Public Policies
Local municipalities working to put a halt to increases in "freeters"
and "NEETs"
Public Policies
Matsushita Electric Industrial seeing a reversal in the number of
recruitments …etc.
Public Policies
Today's high school students as revealed by an attitude survey
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200504/index.htm
-TANKAN-
Short-term Economic Survey of Entreprises in Japan
-April 1, Friday, released by the Bank of Japan
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/stat/tk/tk0503.htm
Current Topics
-More companies hiring more people-
According to the results of a survey on trends in new recruitment
for FY2005 conducted in February by Teikoku Databank, 30.2% of the
companies polled responded that they expected to increase recruitment
of full-time employees (new university graduates and mid-career
employees) who would be joining their company in FY2005 (from April
2005 to March 2006). Of this proportion, a total of 105 companies
indicated that they would sharply increase the number of new recruits
compared with the previous fiscal year, and 2,554 companies indicated
that they would be increasing employee numbers by a certain degree.
Similarly, with respect to the number of non-regular employees
(temporary workers and part-time workers, etc.) they expected to hire,
17.3% of the respondent companies said that they would increase such
employees (a total of 43 companies indicated that they would increase
such employees sharply, and 1,391 companies indicated that they would
be increasing them to a certain degree). On the other hand, the ratio
of companies expecting to recruit fewer employees "to the certain
degree" or "sharply" came to 7.7 %, for both full-time
and non-regular
employees (a total of 680 companies indicated that they would decrease
full-time employees, and 637 companies indicated that they decrease
non-regular employees). These results show that less than 10% of all
companies polled responded that they would decrease the number of full
-time employees hired.
Since only a small number of companies responded that they would
decrease the number of new recruits (both full-time and non-regular
employees) in FY2005, employment conditions are expected to further
improve in FY2005. The survey also clarifies that this trend is being
seen more strongly in the recruitment of full-time employees.
Primary tabulations of a survey on FY2006 recruitment plans which
Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha compiled on March 15 showed that 23.6% more
college graduates than FY2005 will be hired next spring, marking the
highest growth rate in 26 years.
Recently, Toyota Motor Corporation announced a plan to hire over
3,000 people, the first time in 14 years that more than 3,000 employees
will be newly hired. Canon will reportedly hire 730 people, a 20%
increase on recruitment in the previous year, as part of efforts to
establish a structure to accelerate the development of new products
and production technologies.
Fujitsu will also increase employment for the first time in four
years, focusing recruitment efforts on R&D personnel and system
engineers.
The manufacturing sector is showing a strong tendency to prioritize
R&D in environmental and related sectors, thereby seeking to increase
technical staff as a result. Expansion of recruitment in the non
-manufacturing sector, including banks and securities firms that have
carried out vigorous corporate restructuring and are close to completing
the disposal of non-performing loans, is further bolstering the overall
recruitment situation.
Public Policies
-Local municipalities working to put a halt to increases in "freeters"
and "NEETs"-
Local municipalities have started working to raise employment rates
among young people and curb any further expansion in the number of
"freeters," (a term used to describe job-hopping young people),
and
"NEETs" (young people Not in Education, Employment or Training).
Apart from programs unveiled by the national government, local
municipalities, which are capable of launching effective assistance
measures that cater more closely to actual regional circumstances,
primarily implement programs that combine training offered through
the holding of seminars to support young people's employment, and
individual counseling. Local areas, like large cities, are showing
poor employment status among their younger generation, and this has
compelled local municipalities to make concentrated efforts to rectify
the situation.
Some municipalities offer joint training in which the participants
take occupational aptitude assessment tests and acquire basic knowledge,
after which they take part in a detailed, one-on-one training to resolve
the mismatch between the types of jobs offered and the types of jobs
the participants seek. At the end of the training program, there have
been instances in which employment interview sessions with local
corporations have been held. A case in point can be found in the city
of Kochi, where, after a similar training program, over half of the 63
participants aged 20 to 31 reportedly found jobs.
A growing number of municipalities are also holding meetings to
explain about the "referral planned dispatch system" that presupposes
that the status of a temporary employee will be upgraded during his
or her dispatch period to full-time employee status in the company to
which he or she had been dispatched.
At issue is the high rate of employees leaving their jobs after
three years or less, which is cited as one of the reasons for the
increase in young people becoming "freeters" or "NEETs."
There even
is a word that describes this high turnover rate: the so-called "7,
5,
and 3 phenomenon," indicating that 70% of middle-school graduates,
50%
of high school graduates, and 30% of college graduate workers quit
their jobs within three years or less. To correct the situation,
various municipalities have begun implementing a "dual system,"
through which young people repeatedly undergo training at schools
and at local corporations.
Osaka Prefectural Government, moreover, has initiated a program
to mediate internships in China for young people currently not in
employment. The aim of this program is to link the participants'
job experiences in China to employment, and to allow the participants
to act as a bridge for Osaka-based companies seeking to enter the
Chinese market.
It would seem that local governments are being called on to provide
even more extensive assistance to raise employment rates among young
people and to foster a sense of professionalism and pride in their jobs.
Public Policies
-Matsushita Electric Industrial seeing a reversal in the number of
recruitments-
In FY2006, Matsushita Electric Industrial will hire more college
graduates in China and Southeast Asia than in Japan. The company will
recruit a total of 800 people in the area, mostly mid-career engineers.
The number is 80% more than in FY2005.
In China, 600 college graduates will be recruited, up 33% over FY2005.
Matsushita will also newly hire a total of 200 people in Malaysia,
Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. The ratio of college graduates to
mid-career employees is expected be about 3 to 7. In Japan, meanwhile,
a total of 750 people are planned to be recruited comprising 400 college
graduates (300 technical and 100 clerical personnel) and 350 mid-career
individuals. The figures for recruitment in Japan in FY2006 are planned
to remain the same as in FY2005, so the number of people hired overseas
will surpass that in Japan. This is the first time at Matsushita Electric
for such a reversal to be seen between Japan and overseas.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, March)
-Vigorous moves seen in childcare assistance programs-
In conjunction with the enactment in April of the Law for the
Promotion of Measures to Assist the Fostering of the Next Generation
(the Next Generation Law), major companies are moving to bolster
childcare-support programs targeting their employees. In July, NEC
will introduce a Childcare Assistance Program. Under this program,
if an employee must relocate to share the burden of childcare with
his or her parents, the company provides up to 500,000 yen to cover
relocation costs and other actual expenses. The same amount will
also be subsidized if an employee must relocate to send his or her
child to a day care facility that can look after the child for long
hours.
Besides extending the childcare leave period, Fujitsu is considering
increasing the number of half-day leaves that an employee can take.
According to a senior management executive at the company, Fujitsu
has judged that, with the dwindling birthrate continuing, it is
essential to boost the structure for utilizing the potential of women
in the workforce.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Estate Co. announced that it would open,
by as early as November, a child day care facility in Marunouchi,
opposite Tokyo Station in the heart of Tokyo. Besides monthly childcare,
the facility will offer temporary babysitting services for parents who
visit the Marunouchi district to shop. The company has perceived
sufficient demand for such childcare services even in a downtown
office district, including corporate contracts.
As for other companies in Marunouchi, NYK Line runs an in-house
childcare facility. However, it is unusual for a company to make their
childcare facility available to the general public, as is the case
with Mitsubishi Estate.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, March)
US$=\107 (April 1, 2005)
Public Policies
-Today's high school students as revealed by an attitude survey-
From September to December 2004, the Japan Youth Research Institute
conducted a survey on high school students' attitudes toward study
and their daily lifestyles, targeting from 1,000 to 1,300 such students
in Japan, the US and China, obtaining more or less the same number of
responses in each country. The responses reveal the profiles of today's
high school students.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/35/35_si.htm
