Japan Press Weekly

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2016 February 3 - 9 [LABOR]

Gov’t’s plan to cut public job placement services would undermine people’s right to work

The Abe government is slashing public job placement services apparently in a bid to help private employment agencies expand their businesses.

Currently, job seekers browse job offers using PCs at public employment offices called “Hello Work” and decide which to apply for with the help of face-to-face counseling by Hello Work staff. Such support is important to ensure that job seekers can conduct job-hunting activities without anxiety because they can obtain detailed information about the recruiting companies such as working conditions and internal corporate cultures.

However, the Labor Ministry is cutting down on the number of workers at public job placement offices and instead encouraging job-seeking people to use a government online service to search and apply for jobs at home. The government plans to decrease the number of PCs for job seekers at Hello Work offices by 30% by 2019.

In the background lies the Abe government’s intent to create business opportunities for private job placement companies and staffing agencies under the pretext of enhancing the flexibility of the labor market.

In the first place, the reason why the government operates public job placement services is to protect workers’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The need now for the state is to stop further benefiting private companies and allocate more staff to Hello Work offices to provide support for job seekers.