Average year-end bonuses paid to workers at businesses with at least five employees declined last year by a record 9.3 percent from the previous year to less than 400,000 yen, the labor ministry said Wednesday.
The average year-end bonus stood at 380,258 yen, marking the first time it has fallen under 400,000 yen since the survey was first taken in its current format in 1990.
“Businesses whose earnings have deteriorated amid the economic slowdown in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers are reducing their bonus payments to workers,” a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official said.
Workers in the manufacturing industry received an average 437,406 yen year-end bonus, down 14.8 percent from the previous year; service sector workers took home an average 315,877 yen, down 12.8 percent; and wholesale and retail sector workers got 277,112 yen, a reduction of 11 percent.
The nationwide survey was taken at about 33,000 business establishments.
Layoffs to affect 270,000 nonregular workers by June
The period between October 2008 and this June will see 4,955 employers shed 269,790 nonregular jobs, a March labor ministry survey showed Tuesday.
The figure, including workers whose labor contracts with manpower agencies were not renewed after expiration, increased by 7,192 from the previous survey in February, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
A ministry official said employment conditions are improving, but there is a need to monitor developments at the end of March, when more companies are expected to let labor contracts with temporary workers expire.
By prefecture, Aichi, the home of Toyota Motor Corp. and many of its parts suppliers, topped the list with 44,525 nonregular workers losing or expected to lose their jobs, followed by Tokyo with 15,932, Nagano with 11,150 and Shizuoka with 11,128.
The survey was compiled with data available as of March 18.
Deportation rule troubles U.N. official
A recent government decision to deport only the parents of families without residency status, thus separating children from their mothers and fathers, flies in the face of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said Saturday in Tokyo.
Bustamante, who is on his first official fact-finding mission to Japan, is meeting with government officials, nongovernmental organizations, legal experts and foreign residents, and is expected to submit a report on Japan to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
On Saturday, he met with residents caught in the deportation dilemma — among them Noriko Calderon, a 14-year-old girl who was born in Japan to an undocumented Filipino couple. Calderon’s case drew media attention when her parents were deported last spring.
“It is very difficult to live separated from my parents, and I miss them very much,” Calderon said. “But I hope that one day, all three of us can live in Japan together and I plan to do my best” to realize that goal.
Bustamante expressed concern over the separation of families and said he would cite the situation in his report.
“It’s going to be made public,” Bustamante told the gathering. “And this, of course, might result in an embarrassment for the government of Japan and therefore certain pressure (will be) put on the government of Japan.”
Five families, including the Calderons, have faced this ultimatum, according to lawyers supporting their cause.
“My role is not to make a judgment — my role is to report,” Bustamante said. “But what I hear is something that could be described as actions of the government that imply not a clear abiding by the international rules of law.”
Another to meet with the U.N. special rapporteur was a Peruvian-born 16-year-old girl who has lived in Japan most of her life. The girl, whose name was withheld, told Bustamante that while she realizes that they do not have legal status in Japan, neither she nor her brothers and sisters speak Spanish and have no knowledge of Peru.
“If we go back to Peru, no future awaits us,” the girl said. “We are reaching our limits mentally as well as financially . . . (but) I will never give up hope and do my best till the end to keep living in Japan.”
1st foreign nurses pass national exam
Two Indonesians and one Filipina have become the first foreign nurses to pass Japan’s national nursing qualification test after work experience at Japanese hospitals under economic partnership agreements, the health ministry said Friday.
The three are among the 370 foreign nurses who have visited this country under an EPA-related project launched in fiscal 2008, hoping to pass the nursing exam after receiving Japanese-language training and gaining working experience under the supervision of Japanese nurses.
In 2009, 82 foreign nurses took the exam, but all failed. This year, 254 such nurses applied for the test, with the two Indonesians and one Filipina passing it, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
The Indonesians came to Japan in August 2008, and both work at a hospital in Niigata Prefecture. The Filipina, who arrived in Japan last May, works at a Tochigi Prefecture hospital.
Foreign nurses who come to this country under economic partnership agreements are required to possess nursing qualifications in their own nations. After taking language training, they seek to pass Japan’s nursing test while working as assistant nurses at hospitals in this country.
They are required to pass the test within three years of arriving in Japan. For foreign nurses who came to Japan in fiscal 2008, next year’s exam will be the last opportunity to qualify as nurses in this country.
Foreign nurses wishing to gain qualifications in Japan are required to take the same exam as Japanese applicants. Technical terms used in the test pose a hurdle for them in accomplishing their aim, observers said.
This year, about 90 percent of Japanese applicants passed the test. This figure stood at only 1.2 percent for foreign nurses who arrived in Japan under the EPA program.
To rectify the situation, the ministry is considering replacing technical terms with easier-to-understand language in next year’s exam.
More language help neededIt is essential to improve the current Japanese-language training system for foreign nurses seeking to pass this nation’s nursing qualification test under the EPA project, observers said.
Foreign nurses take six months of language training after coming to this country. However, nurses at Japanese hospitals that host them, as well as volunteers who work to aid them, have complained that they have been left to teach the foreign nurses practical Japanese needed for their work at medical institutions.
It is also necessary to ensure foreign nurses are fully trained in using Japanese before arriving in this country, while also increasing the number of opportunities for them to take the national exam, observers said.
In fiscal 2008, the first batch of 98 foreign nurses came to Japan under the EPA program, including the two Indonesians who passed this year’s test. If anyone from the group fails to pass next year’s exam, he or she must return home.
If no one from the first group–excluding the Indonesians–passes the test, it means most foreign nurses in the group must return home despite their three-year work experience at Japanese hospitals.
Such a scenario could reduce the EPA project to an empty slogan. Still, foreign nurses must be able to communicate their ideas in Japanese to doctors and patients. This presents the greatest dilemma for the EPA program, according to observers.
With this in mind, the government should consider corrective measures, including an improvement in the Japanese-language training system for foreign nurses and an extension of their stay in this nation, observers said.
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Foreign trio clear nursing exam hurdle
Two nurses from Indonesia and one from the Philippines cleared Japanese-language requirements and passed the national nursing exam in February, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.
The three, who are among 257 people in Japan under free-trade agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines, will be allowed to stay in Japan indefinitely.
The three were the first applicants to pass Japan’s nursing qualification exam among hundreds of foreign nurses in the country under FTAs.
The two Indonesians, who have been in Japan since 2008, are working at a hospital in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture.
The Filipino nurse has been working at a hospital in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, since arriving in Japan last year.
Japan, a rapidly aging society, began accepting foreign nurses and caregivers in 2008 due to domestic labor shortages in medical and nursing service fields.
Foreign nurses are required to return to their home countries if they fail to pass the nurses exam within three years. Caregivers also need to clear Japan’s qualifying exam within four years.
None of the foreign nurses passed last year’s national exams held in February 2009 because, it is thought, kanji and technical terms used in the exam pose a major challenge for foreign nurses.
In talks with Indonesian and Philippine government officials in January, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada promised to consider addressing the language barriers for foreign nurses.
The health ministry is currently studying using simpler terms in the exam and helping foreign nurses study the Japanese language, ministry officials said.
In the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years through this month, Japan accepted 570 health care workers from Indonesia — 277 nurses and 293 caregivers.
3 foreigners pass tough nursing exam
Two Indonesians and one Filipina have become the first among hundreds of applicants from their countries to pass Japan’s state nursing examination, the health ministry said Friday.
Yared Febrian Fernandes and Ria Agustina, both 26 from Indonesia, and Lalin Ever Gammed, 34, from the Philippines, were among 47,340 people, including Japanese, to pass this year.
The three are the first successful applicants from Indonesia and the Philippines since Japan began accepting nursing applicants in 2008 and 2009 under economic partnership agreements (EPAs).
The examination is conducted in Japanese, and 251 other would-be nurses from Indonesia and the Philippines failed this year’s test.
There were 82 applicants from Indonesia last year. None were successful.
Indonesians and Filipinos who are qualified as nurses in their home countries can only work in Japan in limited trainee nurse roles and must pass the state exam within three years. Failure means they have to return to their home countries.
The two Indonesians are training at Sannocho Hospital in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture. They told a news conference that they were relieved and happy to pass.
Gammed is at Ashikaga Red Cross Hospital in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture.
Fewer foreign trainees at hospitals
The number of Japanese medical institutions and other entities accepting Indonesians and Filipinos training to qualify as nurses or caregivers in fiscal 2010 will fall sharply compared with the current fiscal year.
Language problems apparently proved to be an insurmountable barrier for some.
According to the Japan International Corp. of Welfare Services, only 62 entities plan to accept 142 Indonesians from April 1, the start of fiscal 2010.
In fiscal 2009, 194 entities accepted 467 Indonesians.
As for Filipinos, 82 entities plan to accept 179 workers in fiscal 2010. That compares with 444 Filipinos at 175 entities in fiscal 2009.
Personnel at hospitals and other facilities say that training foreign nationals with a limited command of Japanese is difficult and takes up too much time.
The system to accept Indonesian and Filipino would-be nurses and caregivers was introduced in fiscal 2008, with a total of 850 trainees arriving.
Being low-paid male temp probably spells bachelorhood
Being a temp comes with a number of drawbacks: a lack of job security, often low pay — and if you’re a man, anyway, little chance of tying the knot.
So says the latest labor ministry survey, released Wednesday, which found that out of some 700 single, male temporary workers aged 20 to 34 who responded, only 17.2 percent of them got married between 2002 to 2008, while the marriage rate for male regular employees was nearly double that at 32.2 percent, according to the survey.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry sent questionnaires to 33,689 men and women in 2002, of which 82.8 percent responded. The same questionnaires were sent to 16,793 people in 2008, with 91.3 percent responding.
Among the male temps in the 20-34 age group, only 4.8 percent had had children over the six-year period. Their regular-employee counterparts were more than 2 1/2 times more likely to have had kids, with 12.8 percent having done so.
According to the ministry, female temps are much more likely to quit their jobs after having their first child than regular workers. Of the roughly 600 women aged 20 to 34 who responded over the same six-year period, some 75 percent with temporary jobs quit after giving birth, compared with 36.4 percent of women with regular employment.
Among all women respondents, 52.9 percent who gave birth during the period quit their jobs.
Unsurprisingly, firms that provide maternity leave had more luck retaining mothers.
Some 81 percent of the regular workers who kept their jobs after childbirth said their companies offered leave, while only 48 percent of temp workers who kept their jobs said their companies did so, the survey found.
Among all female respondents, 52.8 percent said their companies have a maternity leave system. The gap in maternity leave was particularly wide between temporary and regular employees, with 83.3 percent of regular employees saying they were eligible for time off; among nonregular workers, the figure was only 19.1 percent.
Ruling coalition, Komeito propose 23 bil. yen settlement for JR dispute
The three ruling parties and an opposition party on Thursday presented the government with a proposal for a 23 billion yen settlement package to resolve a 23-year-old dispute over Japan Railway companies’ refusal to hire unionized workers following the 1987 privatization of the state-run Japanese National Railways, party members said.
Receiving the proposal, which also asks JR companies to hire some 200 former JNR workers, transport minister Seiji Maehara said the sum, smaller than an originally proposed 28.7 billion yen, is a “realistic figure,” showing willingness to accept it.
The minister added that he has “heard some of the JR companies are planning to hire workers at their affiliated entities,” while Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters, “As many people have suffered for 23 years, we, the government, will have to seriously study the proposal.”
The privatization led the newly created companies to refuse to hire 1,047 workers, many of whom were members of the National Railway Workers Union, known as Kokuro.
The compromise deal will urge Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, an organization that inherited debts from JNR, to pay some 23 billion yen as settlement money to former JNR workers.
Shinji Takahashi, Kokuro chief, said the proposal is acceptable and that he expects it to lead to the settlement of the decades-old dispute.
The three ruling parties and the New Komeito party had originally put the total figure at some 28.7 billion yen, which includes 1.8 billion yen to companies set up by those who were denied employment in the privatization, but trimmed the amount to keep it in line with the court’s past assessment of damages.
In December 2003, the Supreme Court rejected a call by the Central Labor Relations Commission, the government’s top labor mediation body, for the dismissed workers to be rehired.
It ruled that under the law, the Japan Railway companies created as a result of the privatization could not be held responsible for the improper labor practices of JNR.
The ruling coalition parties held a meeting with the government in January this year and agreed that the dispute should be resolved by March in consideration of the age of the dismissed workers.
According to Kokuro, the average age of the dismissed workers is now over 56, and 60 of them have already died.
Big firms approve pay raises
Carmakers, electrical manufacturers and other major domestic corporations on Wednesday offered to give their workers mandatory annual pay raises in response to their labor unions’ demand in this year’s wage hike talks.
Their replies were perceived as satisfactory to labor unions at these companies, most of which had demanded automatic annual pay raises–known as teiki-shokyu, or teisho–amid the protracted recession.
Their offer came at the peak of this year’s annual labor-management wage hike negotiations.
Meanwhile, the leading corporations’ responses to requests for greater seasonal bonuses–usually paid twice a year–were mostly disappointing to their organized labor.
For example, Toyota Motor Corp. declined to fully accept the union-demand level of bonuses, meaning it has refused to do so for two consecutive years. Such was also the case with responses from management at electrical manufacturers.
Earlier, Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) President Nobuaki Koga said teisho wage hikes should be treated as a lowest limit acceptable to member unions in this year’s wage hike bargaining.
Annual wage hikes negotiated between labor and management consist of a teisho automatic pay raise, and what is known as beisu appu–simply, be-a–or an increase in the base wage scales adjusted to the age of individual workers and the length of their continuous employment.
On Wednesday, Toyota offered to pay annual bonuses equivalent to five months’ basic pay plus 60,000 yen, compared with its union’s demand worth five months’ basic wages plus 100,000 yen. The fall below the union-demanded level for two straight years was the first since 1982, when Toyota Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Sales Co. were merged to create the current Toyota Motor Corp.
This seemed to reflect a projected operating loss to be incurred by Toyota and its massive recalls, according to analysts.
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Co. fully accepted its union’s demand equivalent to five months’ base pay, and Honda Motor Co. 5.7 months’ basic wages.
Nissan also offered to increase its average monthly pay for young employees by 200 yen in consideration of the financial circumstances surrounding them nowadays, compared with its labor’s demand of 1,000 yen. The carmaker also pledged to give its workers a teisho automatic pay raise.
Prior to this year’s annual wage hike bargaining, Rengo said it would strive to gain teisho hikes, instead of demanding be-a increases in the base wage scales laid down by corporations in each industry. With Rengo’s basic wage hike policy, labor unions at most major corporations demanded only teisho raises.
In the initial stage of this year’s negotiations, management at major corporations took a hard-line stance, even hinting they would refuse to give workers teisho pay hikes. In the end, however, corporate executives accepted the labor side’s demand for teisho raises in the belief that doing so is necessary to maintain their employees’ morale, according to a Mitsubishi Electric Corp. official in charge of labor affairs.
Another probable factor behind their offer was the slight sign of an economic recovery, as shown by an improvement in industrial production, an analyst said.
Last year, some electrical manufacturers imposed a freeze on their teisho pay raises in the wake of wage hike bargaining. As circumstances stand today, however, no major corporation is seeking to do so.
But this does not necessarily mean that the long-running practice of labor and management treating teisho increases as a given will go unchallenged. During this year’s wage hike talks, in fact, management at some top-ranking corporations told their unions that they wanted to reconsider the amount of teisho hikes in future negotiations. This shows corporate executives likely will continue discussions with labor over the propriety of treating teisho raises as a matter of course, according to analysts.