Ph.D. holders face job shortages and poor working conditions

Japan Press Weekly

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

Ph.D. holders face job shortages and poor working conditions - Akahata editorial

The number of doctoral degree holders facing difficulties in finding stable employment is increasing. They have to choose low-pay and unstable jobs as short-term contract researchers, so-called “post-docs”, or part-time lecturers. They are in essence treated as disposable labor. Job shortages and poor working conditions surrounding young researchers have become a major social issue.

Hindering academic and social development

The Science Council of Japan at its general assembly held in April warned that as a world leader in science and technology, the outlook for Japan is poor. More and more people are recognizing that this problem hinders Japan’s academic and social development and are calling for urgent measures to solve this problem.

Without offering any concrete measures, the Hatoyama government in the “new development strategy” published late last year promised to provide jobs for all doctoral graduates in science and technology. The government totally ignores those who have doctoral degrees in the arts and social sciences. In fact, under the government budget-slashing measures which simplistically put too much importance on efficiency and short-term achievement, the government intends to reduce the budget allocated to support young researchers by claiming "overindulgence".

Previous governments had cut the amount of 72 billion yen in government subsidies to national universities. The “structural reform policy” requires national universities to slash 5% in personnel costs. Because of this, national universities decreased the hiring of young researchers and teachers, thus, the ratio of teaching staff aged 35 or younger has fallen to 13% from 19% in 1985.

The government for the last eight years trimmed the total amount of 2.7 billion yen (4%) in the government subsidy to the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan’s largest government-funded research organization. Because AIST is required to reduce personnel costs, the number of full-time researchers has been decreased by 10% and the number of underpaid and overworked “post-docs” has increased sharply.

Although the Democratic Party of Japan promised during the House of Representatives general election last summer that it will review the policy of reducing government subsidies for national university operations, the Hatoyama Cabinet has cut the subsidies by 11 billion yen in the FY2010 budget, 0.9 percent since the last year.

In order to increase opportunities for young researchers to utilize their expertise, the obligation on national universities and independent administrative research institutes to cut their personnel costs must be withdrawn and subsidies for state universities must be increased. The number of positions for graduates of master’s and doctor’s courses must be increased at schools and government institutions.

Improvement of young researchers’ severe working conditions is also urgently needed. The Science Council of Japan suggests that doctoral students must be recognized as “career researchers” and financial support for them must be drastically improved. Currently, only 6.4 percent of students in doctoral programs are receiving such financial assistances.

Large companies must promote job opportunities

Major corporations hire very few Ph.D.s as regular workers. Some of them are using them as temporary workers or fixed-term contract employees. It is urgent for the Hatoyama Cabinet to require large firms to fulfill their social responsibilities by providing more Ph.D.s with regular employment positions.

- Akahata, April 21, 2010