Use of 3.4% in corporate internal reserves can create 157,000 jobs

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Use of 3.4% in corporate internal reserves can create 157,000 jobs

As of March, 87,000 university graduating students still have no job lined up, but using only 3.4 percent in corporate internal funds of 11 trillion yen amassed over the past year alone can create 157,000 jobs for new graduates.

Citing this estimate during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on October 13, Japanese Communist Party representative Kasai Akira demanded that the government encourage large corporations to increase the number of new recruits.

Prime Minister Kan Naoto replied, “I agree with what you have just said.”

Despite achieving a V-shaped recovery, large corporations are still replacing full-time workers with a contingent workforce. The number of workers on the payroll in manufacturing companies with more than 500 employees has been reduced by 30 percent from 2.7 million in 1994 to 1.9 million, reported Kasai.

He also pointed out that the absence of recruitment regulations are bringing about various problems and demanded that a council including members of the government, the business community, and universities be immediately set up to make appropriate recruiting rules.

Students now begin their job-hunting activities in July of their junior year, seven months earlier than that in 2004. Introducing the lament of a student “I feel as if I had entered the university just to get a job,” Kasai emphasized the need to remedy the situation under which many students are having difficulty in balancing their desire to study and their need to engage in job-finding activities.

He said, “Corporations, in the meantime, do not clearly inform job-seekers of either recruiting schedules or decision-to-hire standards. No matter where students live, some companies summon these young applicants to come to a distant office several times for an interview.”

Some companies even force applicants to put up with insulting questions in an interview, saying that they want to check if interviewees can sufficiently bear up under stress. “Many students now think it better to not ask about working conditions, including availability of fringe benefits,” said Kasai.

He again demanded that a council be formed in order to regulate harsh job-seeking activities and companies’ recruitment policies that trample on human rights and students’ dignity.

- Akahata, October 14, 2010