  Young people begin to act to secure jobs -- Akahata editorial, November 28 (abridged)The number of young people who are forced to work as part-timers is increasing rapidly. Difficulty in finding jobs persists among young people, especially for students who will graduate next March. A recent survey shows that 61.3 percent of college students and only 38.9 percent of high school students have been able to find jobs. Despite their record-setting profits, large companies are curbing new hires. They are more dependent than ever on temps and contract workers instead of hiring new employees in order to reduce labor costs. Increase in non-regular workers With the unemployment rate standing at 11-percent for male workers, 24 and younger, five out of ten young people who have found jobs are non-regular workers with lower wages under unstable contracts. Even among young people who successfully became regular workers, many are forced to work long hours under a "performance-based salary system". Their wages are, however, set low and work without pay is left unchecked. Some suffer from emotional stress or kill themselves due to excessively heavy workloads. A growing number of young people are now organizing to improve such outrageous conditions. The Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ) and local organizations of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) as well as teachers and staff unions are pressing local governments to take appropriate measures for job creation for young people. They are forming one network after another to discuss problems facing young workers, study workers' rights, and providing assistance. A young worker succeeded in having his gardening company pay him 1.87 million yen in back pay. Young workers of a photo-printing company formed a labor union and won an out-of-court settlement regarding their dismissals. Young contract workers in a car-parts manufacturer formed a union to correct gaps in wages with regular workers. Such efforts are encouraging many other young people. Sweeping employment measures required Young people are not to blame for the present high unemployment rate and the increase in the number of non-regular workers among young people, but large companies and the Koizumi government are because they have promoted personnel cuts and job insecurity. The government should demand that large companies hire more young people to fulfill their social responsibility. It should also try to end the shortage of labor in fields that are essential to people's lives and provide more job-training opportunities for young people. The budgets allotted to deal with youth employment in Japan is only one-tenth of the average figure in terms of GDP of other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The need now is for the government to change this status quo and drastically boost the budget allocations. (end) |