Alarmingly growing number of non-regular young workers -- Akahata editorial, January 16, 2003

"I have no choice but to become a job-hopping part-timer," a high school graduate commented over the difficulty in getting a job. Nowadays, half of the job seekers among high school graduates are left without job offers from companies.

The number of non-regular workers has already reached 1.93 million in 2002. The number has been increasing by more than 100,000 each year and a further sharp rise is expected.

Severe employment situation drives up the number of non-regular workers

Why do so many people choose to be part-time workers under short-term contracts? The government says it is because of young people's "lack of awareness of job responsibility." Is that right? The job market for young people is tight. There is a scarcity of positions as regular workers and difficulties in finding a job they want. For these reasons, more and more people become job-hopping part-timers and the reasons are what we should pay attention to.

According to the Japan Institute of Labor (JIL), only 14 percent of non-regular workers are actually "dream-chasing types" who don't want to be bound by one company for their dreams or goals to come true. "Moratorium types" represent 47 percent: these people see their current situation as a stopgap until they find the right job. "By-necessity type" is 39 percent: because of the present job crunch, these people have no choice except to become non-regular workers.

Nowadays, the number of high school graduates with unstable jobs has exceeded the number of full-time regular employment. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the employment rate surrounding male high school graduates has dropped from 64 to 35 percent during the last decade, and the ratio for part-time or seasonal workers has jumped to 45 from 19 percent, as shown in the JIL's survey.

Non-regular workers are living on unstable employment under insecure living conditions. Their monthly income is something around 120,000 yen in average with miniscule lump-sum bonuses and paid holidays. Grievances are heard from young people, such as "My income is too small to live on," "I'm experiencing insecure living conditions," or "I cannot have a sense of a bright future."

Many people hope to get regular jobs and work full-time in the future. Despite this, full-time job availability is very limited at present. Even if one can somehow get out of a job-hopping situation, only lower wage or unstable employment like temporary or just-in-time hiring are available.

The government and large corporations are responsible for having worsened the labor market for young people. As of the end of last October, the percentage of high school graduates who found work was 47 percent, and the unemployment rate of young people reached 9.5 percent as of September 2002.

Through workforce reductions and shifting production overseas, large corporations are replacing the lifetime employment system with a strategy to "diversify employment patterns" in order to enable them to use workers on a temporary basis when the need arises. The government encourages corporate restructuring while urging banks to dispose of their bad loans as quickly as possible.

The increase in the number of part-time workers must not be disregarded any longer, for it not only adversely affects young people but distorts Japan's society as a whole.

Young people cannot develop their abilities by doing simple short-term jobs. This state of affairs will also be a great loss for a society that needs to develop technologies and increase skilled workers.

The prevalence of low-paid jobs prevents young people from fully supporting themselves or having their own family. In order for society to make progress, it is essential to give young people opportunities to study or work with dreams and hopes for the future.

The government should concentrate on solving the employment problem of young people as an issue that has a direct bearing on the foundations of Japan in the 21st Century.

Calling for the "diversification of forms of employment," the Koizumi Cabinet is promoting further deregulation in the interest of large corporations; the result being an increase in unstable jobs. It is only helping to create more part-time workers. Look at European and U.S. governments which are taking special measures to solve young people's unemployment problems, and you will see how irresponsible Japan's government is.

Drastic measures are necessary

The government has a responsibility to provide part-time-working or unemployed youth with jobs and job training and to strive to solve the job scarcity problem. It also must improve the labor rights and wage standards for unstable workers in order to ensure that they will be able to work under the same working conditions as full-time workers. (end)