Japan Press Weekly

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2019 December 18 - 24 [LABOR]

Labor think tank’s survey indicates need for better enforcement of ‘same work, same pay’ principle

The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) recently released its survey results on differences in treatment between regular workers and non-regular workers which show that the principle of “equal pay for equal work” has yet to be fully implemented.

According to the survey, 15.1% of part-time workers and fixed-term employees surveyed said that they do the same work and shoulder the same responsibility as their co-workers with regular employment contracts. Of them, 33.5% are paid less than regular workers and are unsatisfied with the work situation, while only 10.8% receive the same wage as or more than their peers with regular employment.

The survey also asked about unequal treatment other than in wages. Of those respondents who do the same work as regular workers do, 37.0% stated that they do not received the seasonal bonuses that regular workers do, 26.6% pointed to the disparity in periodic wage increases, and 23.3% to the lack of a retirement allowance.

Among all the respondents, 21.3% stated that they have received unfair treatment in comparison to their co-workers with regular employment contracts and 37.2% said that they want their employers to state the reasons for the disparities in working conditions.

JILPT also surveyed companies. Among those companies which use fixed-term fulltime employees who do the same work and assume the same responsibility as regular workers, 66.9% said that the wages of this type of non-regular workers are 80% or less of that of regular workers. The percentages were 64.0% concerning workers with part-time and open-ended employment contracts and 60.9% for workers with fixed-term and part-time employment contracts.

Of company respondents which use part-time workers and/or fixed-term employees, only 33.2% implemented measures to eliminate inequalities in working conditions between regular and non-regular workers and 52.6% did not implement any measures.

Past related articles:
> Non-regular postal workers demand Japan Post abide by court rulings ordering an end to regular/non-regular gaps [March 5, 2019]
> Contingent workers’ lifetime wages are half of regular workers’ [February 26, 2016]