April 6, 2023

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Tamura Tomoko on April 5 at a House Audit Committee meeting demanded that the government take action to narrow the wage gap for women in municipal jobs.

Tamura pointed out that most non-regular municipal workers work under one-year employment contracts and that these workers earn about 70% of what regular workers earn.

Tamura referred to the results of a survey conducted by the Japan Federation of Prefectural and Municipal Workers' Union (Jichiroren) on one-year contract workers. The survey found that about 25% of these workers are the main income earners and that half of the 25% make less than two million yen a year.

Pointing out that women make up 75% of fixed-term municipal workers, Tamura said, “The existing system allowing municipal governments to use one-year contract workers is based on the idea that men are the primary earners in their families and women’s income is supplementary, which constitutes indirect discrimination against women.” She urged the government to revise the system.

An Internal Affairs Ministry official in charge of public employee-related issues said that the system itself has nothing to do with gender inequality.

Tamura pointed out that many municipal jobs, such as the support for vulnerable women which requires professional skills and the ability to build trust relationships, are performed by non-regular female workers. She appealed for the need to improve pay equity among municipal workers.