On 2006/03/30, at 23:05, Doug Henwood wrote:
> JC Helary wrote:
>
>> But the general labor situation in Japan does not seem to me like
>> it is getting better especially on the low end of things.
>
> Japan is just coming out of 15 years of a near-zero-growth economy.
> Unemployment rose, but not dramatically. From a distance, it looks
> like labor didn't do all that terribly during the slump. What's it
> look like closer up?
Sorry, no stats at hand. But the main concern here seems to be stable jobs for the youth. A lot of university graduates can't find anything stable and err in part time jobs, staying with their parents, don't paying retirement premiums or health insurance. I am sure you have articles about what we call "freeters" here in the English speaking press. Basically kids hop from job to job and since the contract structure is either full employement and social costs covered by the company or part time employment with lower wages and no coverage by the employer, the freeters basically get nothing but their (relatively low) hourly wage. In fact High-school graduates seem to fare better in a way, I've read somewhere that their employment rate was raising, needs to be checked though. A lot of the young people I know aim at the public services for security. Which means Uni for most, but also HS+sports (Kendo/Judo) for others who want to enter the police force (recruiting a lot lately) or the army etc.
Jean-Christophe