Japan Press Weekly

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2016 June 1 - 7 [LABOR]

70% of young workers complained about low wages: DYLJ survey

Seventy percent of young workers are complaining that they work too long and their wages are too low, revealed the Tokyo Metropolitan Committee of the Democratic Youth League of Japan on May 31 at a press conference held in the Upper House Members’ Office building.

At the press conference, the DYLJ Tokyo released results of a survey regarding young workers’ working conditions. The DYLJ together with young lawyers conducted the survey since December 2015 in the streets near railway stations in Tokyo. They received responses from 550 young people up to 40 years of age.

Explaining the survey results, DYLJ Tokyo Committee Chair Nishikawa Ryuhei said that, for example, a childcare worker of eight years earns only 180,000 yen a month working 12 hours a day. He provided another example: a 19-year-old university student working in a part-time job complained that his employer ignored record-keeping and frequently forced him to skip classes and work overtime for more than 80 hours a month, the government-set danger line for death from overwork (karoshi).

The DYLJ announced that it will utilize the survey results for pushing the Labor Ministry to work for the elimination of long working hours and for a minimum wage hike to 1,000 yen.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kira Yoshiko joined in the press conference.

Kira criticized the Abe government’s move to introduce a zero-overtime payment system and stressed that the JCP and three opposition parties submitted to the Diet a bill to tighten work hour rules. “The JCP is continuously working to eliminate the phenomenon of black corporations exploiting young workers. A major JCP advance in this summer’s Upper House election is important to help achieve this,” she added.

Past related articles:
> 4 opposition parties jointly submit a bill to regulate working hours [April 20, 2016]
> Abe to allow overtime without pay while introducing law to prevent death from overwork [April 4&7, 2015]