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In 1997 about 70-110,000 people between the ages of 25 and 34 lost their
jobs involuntarily every month.
Last December's unemployment figures show that 320,000 people between
the ages of 15 and 24 are out of work, 7.7% of the age group. 380,000 people
between 25 and 34 are also unemployed, 4.2%, a rise of 1.1% over November's
figure when the unemployment rate for men between 15 and 24 was 8%, and
between 25 and 34, 4.6%. In September, the split for this age group had
been 4.6% for men and 7.0% for women.
The road to work seems barred for many young people nowadays. 24% of
companies have made cuts in hiring plans for Spring 1999.
As of October 1, 1998, 67.5% of college seniors graduating in March
had jobs lined up, down from 73.6% a year earlier. 71.3% of male seniors
had been successful in their job hunt, but only half the female students
had found jobs they can go to upon graduation,. Among high-school seniors
looking for work, just 48,9% had managed to find work, a drop of 6.7%.
75.1% of college students were hoping to get a job after graduation but
only 67.5% had found a job, a decline of 6.1 points, and while four out
of five women in 2 year colleges would like to go straight into the workforce,
only just over a third had actually been promised a position.
Just as serious, however, for many young people are the problems they
are facing finding any kind of job, even part-time work. Part-time employment
agencies in Tokyo and Osaka say that vacancies have declined 30-50% year
on year. Help wanted ads for part-time employees fell 30% year on year
in October, 1998, according to a study prepared by the Association of Job
Journals of Japan. based on ads run in help wanted magazines nationwide.
Another 1998 survey by the job placement company, Recruit, showed that
advertisements for jobs in recruitment magazines in June had contracted
30-40% year on year, the fastest rate of decline since the end of 1993.
Marginalised
Last November's unemployment rate for women between the ages of 25 and
34, was 6.8%, and for women between 35 and 44, it was 3.5%. In October
the number of unemployed female workers was 1.2 million, when the number
of women who had given up looking for a job increased by 530,000. Categorised
as discouraged workers, these women are not included in the government's
employment statistics. In March, the unemployment rate for 15-24 year old
women was 8.4%. In 1997, the female waged workforce came to 27.19 million
women, of whom 6.92 were working part-time (about 70% of the part-time
workforce). This is roughly 41% of the total workforce. Combining waged
and unwaged work, though, women do 52.1% of all the work in Japan, while
men do 47.9%.
Temporary workers now make up about a quarter of Japan's entire workforce,
almost half of all companies now hire temporary employees, and four in
five temporary workers are women, but here too there are problems. The
number of temporary workers assigned by 23 agencies in the Tokyo area increased
year on year, the Temporary Work Services Association of Japan said, in
contrast to a year on year increase of 30% recorded in the January-June
1997 period. Demand has fallen rapidly, with the recession now hitting
all kinds of employment. The number of registered temporary workers has
meanwhile been growing. One company, for instance, saw a 50% increase in
registrations in 1998. The use by companies of temporary staff is making
it harder for female university students to find full-time- jobs. Just
65% found a job in 1997, compared with 81% in 1990. These university graduates,
who previously were able to find full-time positions, are now being forced
to turn to temp agencies, making it more difficult for their junior college
and high school counterparts to find work.
Deported
The elderly have suffered more than most in the recession. A third of all
workers who retired in 1996 at the age of 50 or older left their companies
before the mandatory retirement age. The unemployment rate at that time
for workers between the ages of 60 and 64 was 5.6%. For men of that age
it was 7.5%.
In March, 1998, the figures for people in the 55-64 age range was 5.1%
and by June, the jobless rate for people between 60 and 64 was 10.5%.  |
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