Back to business in Japan
The beginning of April marks the new year in Japan. Students head to school in new, crisp uniforms, and college graduates known as freshers head to their new jobs. Although this year is perhaps a bit different than years past.
According to Asahi 44% of Japanese of Japanese companies are planning to reduce their hiring next year. This is a pretty shocking development coming from a country that is also in the midst of a population induced labor shortage.
Asahi.com: 44% of firms hiring fewer recruits for ’10
and things just keep getting worse. According to the International Labor Organization, Japan ranks at the bottom for jobless benefits.
Breitbart.com: Japan’s jobless benefit conditions worst among industrial nations: ILO+
An ILO report that covers eight major countries including emerging economies said Brazil has the highest share of jobless workers receiving no benefits at 93 percent, followed by 84 percent for China, 77 percent for Japan and 57 percent for the United States and Canada. The share slips below 20 percent for France and Germany.
The high Japanese share of jobless workers receiving no unemployment benefits was taken to indicate that Japan has failed to develop safety nets for temporary and other nonregular employees while accelerating deregulation of temporary staffing services.
the lack of the government to prepare for such an environment is going to have lasting effect, both economically and sociologically in Japan for decades to come.
Posted on April 7, 2009, in Business. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
If this doesn’t have immediate political impact, then I’m worried for the Japanese people. The number of Japanese “living lives of quiet desperation” is unknown but given the national character, potentially enormous. Note that the Asashi Shimbun’s Vox Populi, Vox Dei column today was about a children’s storybook — the little snail who learns how to bear his burden of sorrow in silence. Can the people rise above this character and force meaningful political change?
Probably the ILO doesn’t conider Italy as an industrialized Country but is second to none for jobless benefit conditions since it has ZERO benefits (exepted for huge company layoffs)!
Something that is not reported by a little bit scary is that in the videogame industry is starting to spread the SEPPUKU Layoff (a technic really widespread in Italy):
basically your boss comes to you with a letter of resign and, if you sign, you get a couple of months salary (but technically you are not fired, since you resigned). This way the companies keep their “solid” image while layoff people at a really cheap price…
Don’t think any Japanese media is reporting about this new SEPPUKU phenomenon that for now is only spreading among videogame and IT companies…