Japan is in its worst recession since World War II, per CNN Worldwide News.
Japan is grappling with its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II, the nation's economic and fiscal policy minister said Monday.
The comments from Kaoru Yosano followed news of Japan's gross domestic product falling 12.7 percent in the fourth quarter in 2008....Exports plunged an unprecedented 45.7 percent last month, as major exporters such as Toyota and Nissan announced further production cutbacks.
The CNN Worldwide special, which aired here in China and throughout Asia, discussed some unappetizing facts. Japan, once the place of cradle-to-grave employment, now employs up to one third contract workers, workers who earn less and who have little or no workplace protections. And they are the first ones to go as the economy contracts.
Temporary workers most affected by downturn in Japan
According to an article by Brian Williams at TheMilitant.com:
In Japan, the worldwide economic crisis is having its biggest impact upon so-called nonregular workers, those under contract by staffing agencies or hired on a short-term basis.
These workers, who earn lower pay and fewer benefits than regular full-time workers, comprise more than one-third of the 55.3 million workers in Japan. Their numbers shot up from one-fourth of the workforce 10 years ago, as new labor laws lifted restrictions on temporary employees working on factory lines.
A few businesses are booming. One is called “Su Casa,” and they construct buildings with all the charm of storage warehouses in which the unfortunate can rent rooms the size of closets with internet hookups (for job searches) and sleeping mats for $20 a day. The CEO of the company says they can't put them up fast enough.
Analysts say the two-tiered labor system is causing social unrest. The newly unemployed are not taking layoffs sitting down. There have been street protests, and a tent city was erected after the New Year in a public park in Tokyo. Supposedly it has been dismantled, but on CNN they showed footage of people living in tents in the park.
"You can't have a class system in your labor market," said Robert Feldman, head of economic research for Morgan Stanley Japan Ltd. "Part-timers and young people are not treated the same. You need to have equal rules for everyone."
The roots of the problem date back to 2004. In response to employer claims that they needed cheap labor to remain globally competitive, Japan amended laws to permit giving temporary workers less pay and fewer benefits.
It's not just the loss of wages that leaves these contract workers in trouble. "For years, there was plenty of work as employers compensated for meager wages with cheap company dormitories. But the innovations also made it easier for companies to show part-time workers the door when the global economy contracted."
Losing your job and your housing at the same time is a double-barreled issue. In a country where businesses were the source of workers' identity and benefits, for those without workplace protections it's like being pushed off a cliff. Those marches are a good sign, as is the extremely negative media attention that layoffs get. In the US, Nissan has gone to a four-day work week at its plants in an effort to limit the number of layoffs.
In the best of all possible worlds, management would forego any pay or bonuses so that lower-level employees could ride out the recession. I haven't heard of many doing this. But I have heard of 4-day weeks somewhat in the US, anecdotally. But I wonder how many of us would accept to have our hours cut to keep others employed--especially contract workers at our workplaces. Does anyone know of any workplace in which this is happening? [I currently live in China--I'm a bit out of the loop.]
In China, massive protests are meeting the new workplace law at PCCW, the Chinese communications giant, who are trying to cut hours as well as to require employees to take extra unpaid days off every month. What are people's realistic thoughts on these approaches as a means of keeping more people employed?