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 Kajiwara is part of a big and growing pool of part-time, temporary
and other "non-regular" workers left out of the stability and
security of Japan's storied lifetime employment system.
After losing a steady job two decades ago when the small electronics
firm she worked for went bust, she says she has "job-hopped from
workplace to workplace, having to take jobs as a temp, part-timer or
contract worker at best."
"All the while, I've wanted to become a regular employee, but I
couldn't afford to choose jobs as daily living takes priority."
Abe, in office a year, has found little traction so far with plans
to unclog Japan's sclerotic labor market. But now his government
wants to ease rules, which could make it easier for companies to
replace regular "salarymen" with temporary contracted workers.
Businesses and many economists say a freer flow of labor — where
easier firing allows easier hiring — would make for more robust and
durable growth, one of Abe's main goals for the world's
third-biggest economy.
But this would also likely accelerate the growth of what some call
the "disposable" workforce at the expense of regular salaried
workers. That in turn runs directly counter to the main aim of "Abenomics":
breaking 15 years of deflation by creating a virtual circle of
rising wages, consumer spending and prices.
WAGE SLIP
As the ranks of the irregulars grow and salaried workers dwindle,
the trend is pushing down overall wages.
Under direct pressure from Abe, a few big-name companies such as
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and convenience store chain Lawson Inc
<2651.T> have suggested they may raise base pay — not just bonuses,
which can easily be reversed if the economy falters.
But these isolated cases won't reverse the years of decline in
Japan's overall wages, especially if it becomes easier for companies
to replace salarymen with temps or contract workers, who have no job
security and little or no benefits.
"Depending heavily on low-paid and unskilled temporary workers could
backfire on corporate competitiveness and jeopardize the ultimate
Abenomics goal of sustained economic growth," said Hisashi Yamada,
chief economist at the Japan Research Institute.
The lifetime employment system, in which workers put in grueling
hours in return for secure jobs until retirement, was a cornerstone
of Japan's astonishing rise from the ashes of World War II to
become a great economic power. But this social compact has been
unraveling since the nation's asset bubble burst in the early 1990s.
The number of non-regular workers has jumped 57 percent since 1997
to 18.13 million last year, more than a third of the labor force.
The number of regular employees has fallen 12 percent to 33.4
million, government data show.
During the years of deflation, many employees were happy just to be
employed, and unions accepted pay cuts in return for letting
salaried workers keep their jobs. Japan's average annual pay has
dropped 13 percent since the 1997 peak to 4.08 million yen
($39,700), with non-regulars averaging just 1.68 million yen.
The widening "labor market duality" hurts the economy by reducing
productivity, as non-regular workers have less incentive to work
hard and less access to training, International Monetary Fund
economists said in a recent working paper. Indirectly, they said,
the gap also reduces "consensus in society for growth-enhancing
structural reforms."
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"NOTHING BUT FANTASY"
Many of the irregulars are students, young adults and people who
shun the strict rules and long hours of the salaryman. But
increasingly, people are taking non-regular work because they can
find nothing better and must support themselves as best they can.
Two-thirds of the non-regular workers are women.
"I'm tired of living in fear and anxiety," said Kajiwara, who told
Reuters she is struggling to make ends meet on annual pay of about
1.5 million yen, barely a third of the national average. She has
recently bounced through a full-time job as a receptionist at a
catering firm, handling banquet reservations at a big real estate
company, and a part-time job at a recreational facility for the
elderly.
In some jobs she had to work overtime for no extra pay, while
elsewhere she was not covered by social security.
"All I want is security in my livelihood. I'd like to marry one day
but my priority now is to find a fixed job," Kajiwara said, adding
she would not want to marry a non-regular worker like herself. Abe's
push for higher wages, she says, sounds like "nothing but fantasy."
"IN-BETWEENERS"
The prime minister, who is seeking to reverse some labor-market
restrictions imposed by the party he defeated a year ago, wants to
extend the workplace deregulation pursued by his mentor, former
premier Junichiro Koizumi. Those changes accelerated the job market
divide.
Abe has had to drop or has struggled with some labor proposals, such
as exempting proposed special economic zones from Japan's tough
rules on laying off workers, and creating an in-between category of
workers, treated as regular workers but only for specific jobs — which can be eliminated by employers.
Last week, though, a government panel proposed a measure that could
essentially let companies displace regular workers with temps.
Currently a company can employ a worker dispatched from a temp
agency for three years at most at a given workplace, with exceptions
such as for 26 specialist categories like translators. The proposed
change would let companies roll over all temp contracts
indefinitely.
Although labor unions voice concerns, the labor ministry aims to
craft a final proposal by year's end to submit legislation to the
regular session of parliament starting in January. The proposed rule
could mean "full-time employees may be replaced with poorly treated
temps," said economist Yamada.
For Katsura Sakai, 42, who has been looking for work since being
laid off by a food delivery company in March, Abe's plans hold little promise of
a better life
"In this society once you become a temp you will be a temp forever — I think labor deregulation will only accelerate such a trend," said
Sakai, who lives with her pensioner mother and was just making ends
meet on 2 million yen a year before losing her job.
"If you're a temp and think about your old age, the future looks
increasingly grim. To me, the aim of labor reform is to destroy job
security."
(Editing by William Mallard and Ian
Geoghegan)
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