Japan Press Weekly

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2020 September 2 - 8 [LABOR]

Non-regular workers dismissed for sake of corporate survival during COVID-19 recession

The Prime Minister Abe Shinzo-led government has boasted of the growth of non-regular employment as the boosting of job opportunities by the “Abenomics” economic policy. However, soon after the corona crisis hit Japan in March, non-regular workers became the initial targets of reducing labor costs for the sake of corporate survival.

Between January 2013 after the inauguration of the second Abe administration and January 2020, the number of workers with non-regular jobs increased by 3.22 million and that of regular workers increased by 1.73 million.

Meanwhile, in the labor force survey results which the Internal Affairs Ministry released on September 1, the number of non-regular jobs decreased by 1.33 million in July compared with a year earlier, marking the fifth straight month of decline since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in March. Of the 1.33 million non-regular workers, 800,000 were women. According to the survey results, employee downsizing was manifested in various sectors of the hospitality industry where non-regular workers comprise a large portion of the workforce.

What the Abe government increased was the use of non-regular workers who provides corporations with a valve for employment adjustment according to changes in economic conditions.

Past related articles:
> Non-regular workers account for half of coronavirus-caused dismissals[June 4, 2020]
> Amid coronavirus crisis, number of women non-regular workers decreases by 1 million [May 31, 2020]