Japan Press Weekly

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2015 July 15 - 21 [LABOR]

Construction workers discuss ways to make their jobs attractive to young people

Construction workers in the public and private sectors recently held an assembly in Kyoto City to exchange their views and experiences regarding ways to attract young workers to construction jobs.

In the assembly, David Atkinson, president of Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd., a private firm specializing in restoring traditional architectural and cultural properties, gave a speech.

He reported that as measures to rebuild the almost-collapsed company, he offered 40% of his non-regular workers stable permanent employment, employed new young workers, and increased spending on factory improvements and equipment. Through these measures, company’s profits increased by more than 80% from five years ago, he added.

In one workshop, participants discussed the effect of the two-year government policy to raise the unit labor cost in awarding contracts for public works projects. Regarding this policy, survey results were presented, showing that 74% of construction workers said that their wages remained unchanged or decreased. This indicated that contractors at the bottom of the multi-layered subcontracting structure in the construction industry have difficulty in putting the government policy to good use in their wage payments and that many construction workers are unable to benefit from that policy.