Number of temp workers hits record high of 3.84 million in Japan

The number of temporary dispatch workers in Japan has hit a record high of about 3.84 million people, a report released Friday by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has shown.

The ministry’s fiscal 2007 report on temporary work services found that there were 741,644 temporary workers on long or short-term contracts, and 2,795,999 registered for short-term jobs, including day workers. Another 303,192 were designated for “specified dispatching,” which includes specialist jobs.

The average fee paid by client companies to job agencies for a general dispatch worker on an eight-hour shift was 14,032 yen, down 9.9 percent from the previous year. The average amount the workers received fell 9.8 percent to 9,534 yen. For specified dispatch workers, average wages were 13,044 yen — down 7.9 percent.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081227p2a00m0na006000c.html