Urgent Solution Needed to Employment Problems among Young People
On the challenges posed by freeters, the No. 35 issue of JLF featured moves taken by local municipalities, while the question of middle-aged and elderly freeters, whose number is expected to increase in the near future, was featured in JLF No. 37.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of freeters, which stood at 2.17 million in fiscal 2003, has since increased by 100,000 or so each year. With the unemployment rate among males aged 15-24 hovering at a high level--in February this year, it stood at 10.8 percent--employment problems affecting young people have been getting worse.
The Ministry expressed concern about the increase in the number of freeters, saying that freeters are not only deprived of opportunities to acquire skills and knowledge, but that the situation is also likely to weaken industrial vitality and international competitiveness due to the failure to produce proper human resources, and has decided to reinforce employment measures involving young persons.
The Ministry has set a target of 200,000 freeters to be shifted to regular employment within this fiscal year. More specifically, the "trial employment" scheme, which was responsible for a certain degree of achievement last fiscal year, will be again be promoted, while special staff members will be allocated to each public employment security office to provide one-on-one counseling and job introduction services. In the meantime, firms will be encouraged to hold joint presentations and seminars. Through such schemes, the ministry is expecting to transform about 100,000 freeters into regular workers. At the same time, another 100,000 freeters will be encouraged to get jobs as regular employees through the efforts of the "job cafes," or comprehensive job-placement assisting centers that provide job information as well as career counseling services.
The Ministry, determined to find solutions to an issue it sees as a problem of society as a whole, plans to host a "national meeting" in May. At the meeting, the ministry will seek proposals and opinions from leaders from various fields, together with representatives of labor and employers' organizations. These will be compiled as early as autumn this year, and reflected in governmental policy from the next fiscal year onwards.
Undoubtedly these must be useful steps. Neverthless, it seems absolutely necessary to properly understand young peoples' thoughts, expectations, and resistance to working life and society to come up with measures that truly attract this younger generation. Attention will focus on proposals which emanate from the national meeting.
