(Selected information on social & labour developments in Japan)
December
2001
Exemption Law concerning the Employment of Middle-aged and Older Workers adopted
An Exemptionary Temporary Law aimed at expanding the employment of middle- and older workers were adopted by the Diet on 7 December 2001. This law will be effective from 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2005. It will
The First Report of the Regulatory Reform Council
The Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Panel submitted to the Prime Minister its First Report on 11 December 2001. In the field of work, it recommends measures to facilitate labour mobility, including deregulation of private employment services to enable job placement agencies to collect fee from workers for a wider scope of jobs. In trying to make the working status more flexible, the report also suggests the elimination of one-year cap on the maximum period of dispatch for temporary workers and expanding the scope of jobs for dispatched work. The recommendations will be considered by the government for inclusion in the three-year-plan to promote regulatory reform.
Tripartite Work-sharing Review Conference launched
The first meeting of the "Government, Workers, Employers Work-sharing Review Conference" was held on 14 December 2001. This conference is aimed to formulate social consensus on the introduction of work-sharing until March 2002. The meeting, attended by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, President of RENGO, and the Chairman of NIKKEIREN, confirmed three issues to be discussed, namely,
Emergency Measures adopted
The Government on 14 December 2001 adopted an "Emergency Measures Programme" which will be incorporated in its secondary supplementary budget proposal for fiscal year 2001. The Programme includes such measures as to reinforce urban city functions and to tackle the problems of declining birthrate and aging, which are deemed to have immediate effect on the economy. It is hoped that the programme would promote economic growth by 0.9% and generate 110,000 employment.
Unionization rate declines
The trade union organization rate among employed workers stood at 20.7% as of June 2001, declining by 0.8 percentage point to a new lowest record, according to an annual government survey, Basic Survey on Trade Unions, published on 18 December. The membership fell by 2.8% year-on-year basis at 11 million 212,000, declining for a seventh consecutive year.
Fiscal year 2002 budget proposals
The Government adopted a draft budget proposal for fiscal year 2002 at the Cabinet Meeting held on 24 December 2001. In respect of employment, the budget allocates 1.7 trillion yen for government expenditure for unemployment allowance, including 73.6 billion yen, which will be used to fund extended provision on unemployment allowance for those undergoing training. 20 billion yen is earmarked for subsidies to facilitate labour mobility.
Outline of Reforms for the Public Service System
The Cabinet approved the Outline of Reforms for the Public Service System on 25 December 2001, which was prepared by the Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters. The Government aims to submit a bill for revision of the National Public Service Law in 2003 so that a new system should be effective as from Fiscal Year 2006. The Outline aims to introduce personnel evaluation based on individual capacity and performance. Also, it is intended to introduce a new salary system that reflects individual capacity, by setting up "basic salary," "job responsibility allowance," and "performance-based allowance". It concludes that the current limitations to basic workers' rights, including the ban on strikes, should be maintained with appropriate compensatory measures. The National Personnel Authority (NPA) will maintain its role as regard to working conditions including its pay recommendation system, but the management role of Cabinet and Ministers will be enhanced.
RENGO released comments that the outline denies basic workers' rights and thus can be said to constitute violation of ILO Convention, therefore it will prepare to send this case to the ILO.
Foreign workers on the rise
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on 25 December 2001 that as of 1 June 2001, the total number of employed foreign workers increased by 7.1% to 221,807 rising for 9 consecutive years since the survey began in 1993. The number of establishments that directly employ foreign workers reached 18,484 (5.2% rise), the number employed increased by 8.3% to 130,440, marking the highest respectively. Under the worsening employment situation in Japan, this increase of employed foreign workers is seen to reflect the wage gap between Japan and Asian countries, as well as the Japanese workers' unwillingness to take manual jobs, and the globalization of the economy. The foreign workers were employed mostly in the following sectors: manufacturing, service, retailing and restauraunts.
Fifty six per cent of the companies do not meet legal quota for the employment of disabled people
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on 26 December 2001 that according to a survey on status of the employment of disabled persons, 56.3% of the surveyed firms did not fulfill the quota of 1.8%. It marked the highest rate since the survey began in 1977. The actual employment rate at private companies stood at 1.49%.
Unemployment situation aggravates
The Governmental Statistical Bureau announced on 28 December 2001 that the unemployment rate for November rose by 0.1 percentage point to 5.5%, which market the highest for three consecutive months. The number of the unemployed increased for the eighth consecutive month, by 410,000 to reach 3,500,000.
Dispatched workers rose by 30%
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's report on the operation of worker dispatching businesses released on 28 December 2001, the number of dispatched workers grew by 29.8% to 1.39 million in the fiscal year 2000 compared with 1999. The annual sales volume of these businesses amounted to 1.6717 trillion yen, rising by 14.5%, achieving the highest ever figure. The average fee per worker for an 8-hour workday stayed at level with the previous year, at 16,755 yen, whereas for dispatch of specified workers fell slightly to 25,100 yen.
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(Purpose of the news flash is to provide readers with rough idea of social and labour developments in Japan. It is not an official document of the ILO. The designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the ILO concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the ILO, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval.)