Japan Press Weekly

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2012 December 26 - 2013 January 8 TOP3 [LABOR]

Decent work rules plus wage hike can create 7.36 million jobs

Decent work rules and a wage hike will create 7,366,000 more jobs. Financial resources needed to achieve this would be approximately 56 trillion yen, only 12.2% of the 460 trillion yen in all corporations’ internal reserves.

The Japan Research Institute of Labor Movement (Rodo-soken) on December 29 showed a way out of the current deflationary recession in a policy proposal for the 2013 spring labor-management wage talks (Spring Struggle).

The proposal highlights the establishment of decent work rules as one way out, recommending that overtime work without pay be eradicated; all paid leaves be taken by all workers; and a 5-day work week be fully implemented in all workplaces.

The Rodo-soken estimates that these measures alone will create 4,206,000 new jobs.

As another way out, the proposal calls for an overall pay increase, suggesting that a wage level be restored to the peak achieved in 1997 and that non-regular workers be converted into regular workers.

The labor think tank predicts that such a pay hike will contribute to a 34.6 trillion yen increase in domestic demand, a 30.4-trillion-yen increase in GDP.

Given 470 trillion yen in nominal GDP in the FY2011, the growth rate will be pushed up by 6.47 percentage points.

The Rodo-soken estimates that this economic growth will help to create 3,160,000 new jobs. Along with the 4,206,000 new jobs mentioned above, its proposal can contribute to the creation of new jobs for 7,366,000 people in total.