Female regular workers reduced to 47%

Japan Press Weekly

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

Female regular workers reduced to 47%

A labor ministry report shows that full-time workers accounted for 46.5 percent of all women workers in Japan in 2007, down 11.7 percentage points from 1997.

The number of woman employees (non-agriculture sectors) was 22.3 million in 2007, up 7.1 million from 1985, mainly due to a sharp increase in the number of part-time workers, to 9.3 million in 2007 from 3.3 million in 1985.

Wage gaps persisted between men and women. The average earnings of women aged between 50 and 54 was only 56.1 percent of those of men.

The average hourly wage for female part-time workers was 962 yen or equivalent to 70.1 percent of the hourly wages for full-time female workers.

The adversely-revised Worker Dispatch Law in 1999 liberalized the use of temporary workers, contributing to further cuts in the number of full-time employees and deepening job insecurity. More than half of the women workforce are not full-time workers, apparently due to a sharp rise in the number of part timers.

- Akahata, April 4, 2008