The Japan Labor Flash No.76
Email Journal January 15, 2007

Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
IMF-JC Sets Date for Receiving Replies from Employers in Spring Negotiations
Japan's Population in 50 Years' and 100 Years' Time
Public Policy
MHLW Submits to Labor Policy Council Subcommittee Final Draft on
Future Laws Related to Labor Contracts and Working Hours
News Clippings
"Wish to Stay with the Current Company for the Rest of Life"
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Others Commended for Support
of Child-Raising
Special Issue
Nippon Keidanren Survey of Employees' Salaries in Leading Enterprises

Statistical Reports

-Recent Statistical Survey Reports-

Features
Employment Situation of Handicapped Persons
Survey on wage Increase (2006)

http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2006/e2006-12.htm

Current Topics

-IMF-JC Sets Date for Receiving Replies from Employers in Spring

Negotiations-

At a tactics committee meeting held on last December 13, Kinzoku
Rokyo (the Japan Council of International Metalworkers' Federation, or
IMF-JC) confirmed that its affiliated unions would ask their companies
to reply to their demands for the 2007 Spring Joint Negotiations on
Wednesday, March 14. It also confirmed the overall schedule of the
negotiations: affiliated industry unions would summarize their demands
by mid-February and submit them to employers by February 20.

Jidosha Soren (the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers'
Unions, or JAW; 700,000 membership) decided, in consideration of
the differences in business performance among its affiliates, to
give up "unified demands" and leave individual unions to make their
own demands. Thus, the Federation of All Toyota Workers' Unions
resolved to demand, as in the previous year, wage increases of 1,000
yen to 2,000 yen per worker. JAM (the Japanese Association of Metal,
Machinery, and Manufacturing Workers; 400,000 membership), which
consists of small and medium-sized unions in the machinery and metal
industry, decided to call for an increase of 2,500 yen or more as
an extra pay hike, in addition to those that maintain the current
wage structure. They also called for an increase of 7,000 yen or more,
according to the policy of the Rengo-MSE (Medium and Small-sized
Enterprises) Joint Struggle Committee, in cases where unions find
it difficult to calculate their wage curves.

A survey conducted by Nippon Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation),
the results of which were released in mid-December 2006, shows that
the proportion of firms which increased basic payments increased
substantially from 6.5 percent to 24 percent. It also shows, on the
other hand, that the proportion of those which failed to do so was
76 percent, above 70 percent for the fifth consecutive year.
The Japan Business Federation, though it says that it is acceptable
for firms registering good performances to raise wages, objected to
uniform wage increases in industries, reflecting its basic stance
that concrete achievements of firms should be reflected in the bonus
payments of their employees.
US$=120yen (January 15, 2007)

-Japan's Population in 50 Years' and 100 Years' Time-

At a Cabinet meeting held in December, the Government approved a
"2006 White Paper on Japanese Society with Fewer Children." The
White Paper states that "it is clear that Japan has become a
depopulating society." It also warns that Japan will become a
seriously depopulated society by 2050, with every senior person
(aged 65 and above) being supported by 1.5 persons in the working
-age population (aged 15 to 65). The report also sounds an alert
over the sharp decline in population, saying that the population
will fall by 64 million in 2100, just under half the current 127
million.

Public Policy

-MHLW Submits to Labor Policy Council Subcommittee Final Draft on
Future Laws Related to Labor Contracts and Working Hours-

On last December 21, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
submitted to a Labor Policy Council sub-committee, the Study Group
on Labor Conditions, the final draft of its paper on "Future Laws
Related to Labor Contracts and Working Hours." While proposing
clarification of basic rules for labor contracts and establishing
a system of working hours that will "respond to diverse working
styles while checking lengthening working hours," the Ministry
gives up the idea of "financial settlement of dismissals" because
neither labor nor management approves of it. If financial settlements
were allowed, employers might be able to dismiss employees -- provided
the former pay compensation to the latter -- even if a judge rules
that the said dismissals are invalid. The issue will continue to be
discussed for future legislation. Regarding eligibility for white
-collar workers to be covered by the so-called 'white-collar exemption
rule' -- that is, a system more suitable to flexible working styles
-- the Ministry did not cite any specific annual incomes, simply
stating "relatively high annual income levels."

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will reportedly make final
adjustments to set the minimum annual income level under the new system
at 8-9 million yen. Concerned with the currently persistent issue of
"unpaid overtime," the Democratic Party of Japan, the leading opposition
party, decided not to agree to the adoption of this new system, and
are planning to issue a counter-proposal by February this year.

In the meantime, a survey conducted in October 2006 by Rengo (the
Japanese Trade Union Confederation) among approximately 1,000 regular
workers across the country, shows that the white-collar exemption rule,
under which workers with a certain level of annual income are excluded
from the regulations which set daily working hours at eight hours and
weekly working hours at 40 hours, is surprisingly unfamiliar to the
general public. The survey shows that a mere 9 percent of the respondents
know of the system and its contents; that 18 percent have heard of it;
and that 73 percent do not know of it at all.

News Clippings

-"Wish to Stay with the Current Company for the Rest of Life"-

A survey by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic
Development entitled "Survey on Views of Newly Employed Employees
in Fiscal Year 2006" shows that some 30 percent of the new employees
surveyed, the highest proportion in the last ten years, said that
they would like to work for their current company for the rest of
life. The figure was 14.2 percent in 1998. On the other hand, the
proportion of young workers who answered that it is better to switch
companies if one finds a firm offering better conditions was at a
record low, 36.5 percent. The proportion of those who answered that
they would like to set up their own company independently rather than
moving up the ladder within the present company was 25.7 percent,
a drop of 3.3 percentage points from the survey conducted at the same
time the previous year.

The survey results suggest that, while the employment situation has
improved due to a pickup in business, younger workers seem to sense
severe competition in the workplace and opt for the practice of lifelong
employment.

The survey targeted 1,290 participants in training programs for new
recruits, which the Center carried out in the spring and the autumn
last year (effective return rate: 66.1%).
(Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, December)


-Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Others Commended for Support
of Child-Raising-

Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. has announced the first winners of the
"Nikkei Award for Support of Child-Raising," which it established to
commemorate the 130th anniversary of the newspaper. Out of some 160
applicants, a committee of judges has selected eight firms, autonomous
bodies, or private organizations which are striving to foster the
nation's future vitality.

Criteria for the selection included the type of systems which support
maintaining a balance between work life and child-raising, the spirit
of innovation, and the uniqueness of services provided. In selecting
private companies, the committee also put emphasis on "self-realization"
among working women.

Among award winners, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. was
chosen on the grounds that it promotes "work-life balance" by supporting
workers to achieve such a balance: for example, by establishing a
working system flexible enough to meet various individual life styles,
the firm has made it possible for workers who need to take care of
children to work for a minimum of three hours per day. Another winner,
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. was lauded for its "pregnancy leave," established
for the purpose of maternity protection and available to pregnant
employees for whom the company has recognized it is difficult to
continue working even before they become eligible for the existing
maternity leave. Apart from these, P&G, Osaka Koseinenkin (Employees'
Pension) Hospital, and NPO Niiza Childcare Support Network have also
been commended.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, December)

Special Issue

-Nippon Keidanren Survey on Employees' Salaries in Leading Enterprises-

In December 2006, Nippon Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation)
published the results of a survey on regular wages in June 2006,
showing wage levels of "standard" employed workers who joined their
companies immediately after graduation from school and have stayed
with the same companies since.

Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.76/76_si.html