The Japan Labor Flash
No.52
Email Journal December 15, 2005
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
TANKAN
Current Topics
Starting Salary for New University Graduates in 2005 Averages
193,900 Yen
Total Cash Earnings and Hours Worked See Year-on-Year Increase
Public Policies
46.6 Percent of Annual Paid Holidays Taken, a Drop of 0.8 Percentage
Point over the Previous Year
The Biggest Concern among Caregivers: "Low Income"
Telephone Counseling Service Receive 1,247 Calls about Unpaid Overtime
Public Policies
Tempstaff Co. Launches Staffing Services of Medical Doctors
"Special Subsidiaries" for Disabled Workers Expand
Public Policies
2005 Reflected in the Buzz Words and Phrases of the Year
[Announcement from the Editing Office]
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports November 2005-
Features
Survey on Situation of Preliminary Job Offers for New Graduate
in Mar.2006 (University, etc.)
Labor Force Survey : Detailed Tabulation (Preliminary Report for
Jul.-Sep.)
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2005/e2005-11.htm
-TANKAN-
Short-term Economic Survey of Entreprises in Japan
-December 14, Wednesday, released by the Bank of Japan
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/stat/tk/tk0512.htm
Current Topics
-Starting Salary for New University Graduates in 2005 Averages
193,900 Yen-
According to the findings of the 2005 Basic Survey on the Wage
Structure (starting salaries) published on November 25 by the
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the starting salary for
new university graduates dropped by 0.6 percent from the previous
year to 193,900 yen, while that for high school graduates increased
by 0.2 percent over the same period to 152,900 yen. The nationwide
survey was aimed at business establishments in the private sector
with 10 or more regular employees (approximately 13,000
establishments). The drop in the salary rate for university graduates
was one percentage point less than the previous year, whereas the
salary rate for high school graduates increased for the first time
in four years. Starting salaries for male university graduates were
196,700 yen (a drop of 0.8% from the previous year) and for female
graduates 189,300 yen (a drop of 0.1%).
US$=\117 (December 15, 2005）
-Total Cash Earnings and Hours Worked See Year-on-Year Increase-
At the end of November, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
published preliminary results of its Monthly Labour Survey for October.
According to the Survey, average monthly total cash earnings per
regular employee of firms with five or more employees increased by 0.5
percent from the same month the previous year to 277,802 yen.
Scheduled cash earnings increased by 0.5 percent to 254,066 yen,
and non-scheduled cash earnings dropped by 0.1 percent to 19,147 yen.
The number of regular employees increased by 0.6 percent compared to
the same month the previous year, of which the number of general
workers increased by 1.1 percent, while that of part-time workers
decreased by 0.5 percent. Average hours worked per month totaled 150.5,
an increase of 0.2 percent compared to the same month the previous year;
of these, non-scheduled hours worked increased by 1.0 percent.
Public Policies
-46.6 Percent of Annual Paid Holidays Taken, a Drop of 0.8 Percentage
Point over the Previous Year-
On November 28, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published
the 2005 findings of its General Survey on Working Conditions. In 2004,
enterprises gave each worker an average of 18 days of annual paid
holiday (excluding those carried over from the previous year), whereas
the number of days which the average worker actually took for holiday
totaled 8.4 days; the proportion of paid holidays taken thus stood at
46.6 percent, a drop of 0.8 percentage point from the previous year.
By industry, the proportion was highest, 77.3 percent, in the
"electricity, gas, thermal supply and water supply" sector,
and
lowest, 31.1 percent, in the "food and drink establishments and
accommodation" sector.
-The Biggest Concern among Caregivers: "Low Income"-
On November 29, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
published the findings of its 2004 Survey on Nursing Care Facilities
and Business Establishments. When asked about dissatisfaction with
or concerns about their current work, nursing caregivers and nurses
surveyed most commonly cited "low salary and inadequate benefits",
followed by "difficulty in taking paid holidays." The most common
reason cited by nursing caregivers for working in their current
profession was that "it is a rewarding job"; and among nurses,
the
most common reason was that "it is easy to commute to the workplace."
-Telephone Counseling Service Receive 1,247 Calls about Unpaid
Overtime-
As introduced in Japan Labor Flash No. 50, a telephone counseling
service for resolving cases of unpaid overtime was launched as
scheduled on November 23, "Labor Thanksgiving Day" in Japan.
The service,
which was planned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, was
available across the country. The number of cases for which counseling
was sought totaled 1,247 (893 from workers themselves, 288 from family
members of workers, and 13 from employers). Of these, cases concerning
unpaid overtime amounted to 852, among them 371 in which allowances
for overtime were not paid at all. By industry, the numbers of
telephone calls related to the commercial and manufacturing sectors
were the largest, 287 and 244 calls, respectively.
Public Policies
-Tempstaff Co. Launches Staffing Services of Medical Doctors-
In December, Tempstaff Co. Ltd., a leading manpower dispatching
agency, estublished a new affiliated company specializing in stuffing
service of doctors.
Its target clients for the supply of doctors from across the country
are pharmaceutical companies and medium-sized hospitals with 100 or
more but less than 300 beds. Behind the company's embarking on the
new business lie, for example, the shortage of doctors among hospitals
in rural areas and the increased demand for doctors among pharmaceutical
companies, which are now required by the Pharmaceutical Law revised this
April to have professional instruction and evaluation in the clinical
testing of new drugs and to ensure safety.
Tempstaff already has a manpower dispatching service for medical
nurses and medical representatives to hospitals and pharmaceutical
companies and is now expanding its manpower services into the medical
sector. Meanwhile, in November, which the Cabinet Office designated
as an "intensive month for accepting requests concerning regulatory
reform and opening of markets to the private sector" ; the request
made by Nippon Keidanren (the Japan Business Foundation) included
one for removal of the ban on worker dispatching in medical businesses.
There are signs of change in employment and hiring in the medical
sector, which so far has lagged behind other sectors in terms of
personal mobility.
(Nihon Keizai Shimun, December 1; Press Release of Nippon Keidanren,
November 17)
-"Special Subsidiaries" for Disabled Workers Expand-
In Kanagawa prefecture, there has been an increase in efforts to
launch "special subsidiaries" for the purpose of hiring disabled
workers.
Special subsidiaries are firms whose disabled employees can be
counted in the statutory proportion of disabled employees in their
parent companies. To be authorized as exceptional, subsidiaries are
required to satisfy certain conditions, such as "five or more disabled
employees, forming at least 20 percent of all employees". Staff Service
Business Support Co., Ltd., a special subsidiary of Staff Service
Holdings Co., Ltd., a manpower dispatching company, has opened a
restaurant in Sagamihara City. Of the 15 staff members at the
restaurant, three have hepatic function disorder and another three
are mentally retarded. The subsidiary itself is primarily engaged in
the creation of personal business cards and documents, the calculation
of salaries, and other clerical work, employing 299 disabled workers
(as of November 1) in total.
Keikyu WITH Co., Ltd. in Kawasaki City, a special subsidiary
of Keihin Electric Express Railway Co., Ltd., which is engaged in
providing cleaning services for railway stations, has now opened up
an industrial laundry and increased the number of disabled employees
by five to 25.
(Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, November)
Public Policies
-2005 Reflected in the Buzz Words and Phrases of the Year-
Since this issue of the Japan Labor Flash is the final issue of the
year and 2005 is about to end, let's take a look at the outgoing year.
At the close of each year, it is customary for the most popular new
words and phrases which emerged throughout the year to receive awards.
Let us look at the social situation this year as expressed in words
and phrases pertaining to labor issues among those listed in the top 60.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/no.52/52_si.html
[An Announcement from the Editing Office]
Dear Readers,
Thank you for your continued support for JLF.
This will be our last issue for 2005. The first issue for 2006, No.53,
will be delivered to you on January 16.
We, JLF editors, wish you all a very happy and fruitful New Year.
