Japan Press Weekly

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2011 May 11 - 17 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

Create public jobs

Economic tasks in post-disaster reconstruction - III

In an interview with Akahata, Japan Research Institute of Labor Movement (Rodo-soken) advisor Oki Kazunori called for public jobs to be created in reconstruction efforts in the region stricken by the March 11 disaster. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

We must recognize that full recovery from damages caused by the massive disaster will take quite a long time. Efforts to reconstruct the disaster-hit Tohoku region need to be promoted based on mid- and long-term perspectives with the active participation of local residents.

The government is trying to complete the post-disaster reconstruction in a short period of time by temporarily concentrating human and financial resources to the devastated Tohoku region. This approach only contributes to short-term profits by large corporations.

At the beginning of April, the Labor Ministry requested staffing service companies throughout the nation to support the re-employment of disaster victims. However, such a measure will break up local communities and the people of Tohoku, resulting in the loss of the labor force necessary for reconstruction projects.

The government needs to discuss and determine effective ways to provide jobs for and ensure livelihoods of the nearly one million people who have become unemployed due to the disaster. Since many of them were self-employed farmers and fishers, they cannot receive unemployment benefits. Plus, it is next to impossible to find jobs in the Tohoku area since local industries have been devastated by the disaster.

In order to deal with the massive unemployment situation, it is essential for public employment opportunities to be created in connection with the promotion of reconstruction projects. The effort to provide jobs for unemployed people and revitalize local communities and industries should go hand in hand. In addition to local governments, I hope that more business, volunteer, and residents groups will play active roles to achieve this.