The Japan Labor Flash
No.42
Email Journal July 15, 2005
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
Japan Federation of Service and Distributive Workers Unions
Officially Resolves to Merge with UI Zensen
Monthly Personal Allowance of Male Salaried Worker Averages 40,600
yen
Public Policies
Diet Passes Bill to Amend Nursing-Care Insurance Law
Recognition of Psychiatric Cases as Occupational Disease Increases
to 130 in FY2004
Public Policies
Four Major Banking Groups Reduce Workforce and Outlets for the 11th
Consecutive Year
Labor-shedding in Business Circles has Repercussions in Semiconductor
Industry
Public Policies
Lawmakers' Incomes Made Public
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports June 2005-
Features
Survey on Competence of a Person which Enterprises Seek (FY2004)
Monthly Labor Survey (Preliminary Report in May) …etc.
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2005/e2005-06.htm
Current Topics
-Japan Federation of Service and Distributive Workers Unions
Officially Resolves to Merge with UI Zensen-
In late June 2005, the Japan Federation of Service and Distributive
Workers Unions (JSD), with approximately 184,000 members from
department store and chain store labor unions, held its two-day
regular convention in Tokyo. At the convention, it officially passed
a resolution to merge with UI Zensen Domei (Japanese Federation of
Textile, Chemical, Food, Commercial, Service and General Workers'
Unions, with a membership of approximately 800,000), the largest
private industrial union in the distribution and service sector,
and decided to hammer out specific details for the new organization
by 2007. The merger will make it Japan's largest industry union,
surpassing the current largest industrial union, Jichiro (All-Japan
Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union, with approximately 3,500
affiliated unions and a membership of approximately 948,000).
JSD emphasized the significance of the merger, stating that it
will lead to the achievement of fundamental goals which JSD has
pursued since its establishment: the realization of industrial
policies desirable for the distributive and service sectors; the
reinforcement of the union's social influence; and the achievement
of a single industry union for each industry.
US$=\112（July 15, 2005）
-Monthly Personal Allowance of Male Salaried Worker Averages 40,600
yen-
The average monthly personal allowance for male salaried workers
increased for the first time in five years by 2,300 yen from the
previous year to 40,600 yen, according to a web survey conducted in
May by GE Consumer Finance Co., a leading consumer loan company.
The poll covered 500 male workers whose ages ranged from early 20s
to early 60s, the average age of respondents being 39.8. Despite this
improvement, 78.2 percent of the respondents said that the amount of
their personal allowance remained the same, which suggests that the
majority of male wage earners still suffer from a shortage of pocket
money. The average monthly personal allowance, recovering from the
38,300 yen low marked in 2004, was still about half of the peak
figure (76,000 yen) recorded in 1990. The poll also found that
workers spend an average of only 660 yen on lunch, an expense which
they have to squeeze out of their allowances.
On the other hand, those who said that their allowance had
increased accounted for 5.8 percent of respondents, of which
approximately half replied that it had increased by 10,000 yen or
more, boosting the overall average amount. Asked what would be an
ideal monthly allowance, the amounts cited by respondents averaged
83,400 yen, more than double the average of what they actually receive.
Since the economic bubble burst, the economy reached an abysmal
low, and the deterioration of the financial standing of married male
salaried workers has been frequently mentioned in the media, even
generating a buzzword, "the 500-yen coin husband." The amount
of
personal allowance in many households is still decided by wives,
so husbands who demand a larger allowance are apparently still
a minority. Putting up with boxed meals sold at convenience stores
or extremely cheap bowls of "beef-on-rice," male salaried workers,
the chief supporters of their families, look likely to continue
bearing their cross for the time being.
Public Policies
-Diet Passes Bill to Amend Nursing-Care Insurance Law-
On June 22, a plenary session of the House of Councilors passed
a bill to amend the nursing-care insurance law. The bill was approved
with the support of the ruling coalition parties and the Democratic
Party of Japan and was then put into force. The amendment calls for
the strengthening of a nursing-care insurance system that is
sustainable and can cope with the development of an ageing society,
one which allows the elderly to maintain their dignity and live
independent lives according to their respective abilities.
The law stipulates in an addendum the establishment of new services
for the elderly to prevent them from needing nursing-care in the
future. It also includes revisions to the definitions used in judging
whether an elderly person qualifies for nursing-care, e.g.
"requiring nursing-care" or "requiring assistance."
It also outlines
steps to streamline the cost-efficiency of insurance payments and to
focus payments on selected fields by, for example, excluding expenses
for accommodations and meals at public nursing homes from service costs
at such nursing facilities. This law will go into effect in October
of this year.
-Recognition of Psychiatric Cases as Occupational Disease Increases
to 130 in FY2004-
On June 17, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published
data on compensation for occupational disease in fiscal year 2004;
these included cerebral and cardiac diseases and psychiatric disorders.
The cases of cerebral and cardiac disease that were acknowledged as
compensable occupational diseases numbered 294 (a decrease of 20
cases, or 6.4 percent, from the previous year), of which 150 workers
(a drop of 8 cases) died from overwork. On the other hand, the cases
of psychiatric disorders caused by overwork or work-related stress
totaled 130 (an increase of 22 cases, or 22.4 percent), a record high
since 1983 when the collection of statistics began. Among these,
there were 45 cases of suicide and attempted suicide.
The number of workers who applied to have psychiatric disorders
recognized as compensable occupational diseases was 524 (an increase
of 77, or 7.2 percent), a conspicuous increase being observable among
workers aged between 30 and 49.
Public Policies
-Four Major Banking Groups Reduce Workforce and Outlets for the 11th
Consecutive Year-
Since the end of March 1995, Japan's four major banking groups
(Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.,
Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc., and UFJ Holdings Inc.) have
seen the 11th consecutive annual drop in the numbers of their retail
branches and employees. As of the end of March 2005, the number of
their retail outlets had decreased to 1,733, 1.2 percent less than
the same time a year earlier; the number of employees also decreased
by 5.5 percent to 85,730. Although the recovery of their business
performance resulted in a slower pace of labor- and branch-shedding
than before, the downward trend still continues.
Reductions in both the number of outlets and employees of these
megabanks are expected to continue in the future. With a business
merger scheduled for this October, MTFG and UFJ will cut their total
workforce by approximately 10,000. This amount corresponds to 12
percent of the combined number of workers in the biggest four banking
groups. The banks are also planning to close 300 retail branches,
mostly located within the Tokyo metropolitan area.
On the other hand, Mizuho Financial Group is planning to hire 2,215
new graduates next spring, which is an increase of 85 percent over
the number recruited this spring. Other megabanks are also moving
towards reinforcement of business strategies to cope with the mass
retirement of baby boomers (currently in their late 50s) in coming
several years.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, June)
-Labor-shedding in Business Circles has Repercussions in Semiconductor
Industry-
Sanyo Electric Co. announced that it would either close or sell
20 percent of its domestic manufacturing facilities over three years
and cut 15 percent of its workforce, including workers abroad, as a
business restructuring plan. In Japan, where it has a total of 38,000
employees on a consolidated basis, it will cut 3,000 jobs within this
fiscal year, mainly in the semiconductor division which has been
suffering from a decline in profits. Since the semiconductor division
also carries a large number of unprofitable products, the company
will embark on a reallocation of personnel in the division as a
first step in a sweeping restructuring plan, and then apply similar
measures to home electronic appliances and other divisions in due
course.
In a similar fashion, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will
eliminate about 1,000 jobs (006 percent of its domestic employees) in
the semiconductor division. The cutback, designed to strengthen
competitiveness in cost performance of semiconductors, will be
carried out through an early retirement program, for which all
employees with tenure of 10 years or more will be eligible. The
firm is expecting approximately 1,000 employees to apply by the
deadline. The overhaul of the semiconductor division will bring to
27,000 the total number of jobs reduced in the course of the
management reform, which commenced in March 2002, thus more or less
completing the company-wide cuts in its workforce.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, July)
Public Policies
-Lawmakers' Incomes Made Public-
A report has been published on Diet members' annual incomes,
including replenishment of assets and remuneration from organizations
or companies in which they held posts in the previous year. This
mandatory disclosure of information, based on the Law on Disclosure
of Lawmakers' Assets enacted in 1993, was applicable to 651 Diet
members on the register throughout the year 2004, of which 471 were
House of Representatives' members and 180 were House of Councilors'
members.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/no.42/42_si.html
