Tag - jobs

 
 

JOBS

People pray on the first day of the new year at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Japan’s economy is set for modest growth in 2025 supported by wage increases and stimulus, but faces risks from political instability and global challenges.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2025
Hope for the economy in 2025, but dangers loom
Political uncertainty at home and a tumultuous international environment pose real risks for the nation’s economy.
Private detective Marcus Lentz holds his camera as he poses for photos in his office in Hanau, western Germany, on Dec. 20.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2024
For German 'sick leave detective,' business is booming
Workers in Germany, on average, took 15.1 days of sick leave last year, up from 11.1 days in 2021.
In Joe Biden’s four years as president, the U.S. outperformed virtually every other advanced economy in terms of output, employment and productivity growth.
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 29, 2024
An economic requiem for the Biden administration
Now that the outgoing U.S. president’s term is about to expire, an elegy is in order for his administration's economic achievements, failures and missed opportunities.
Elon Musk walks through Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune in Washington on Dec. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2024
Trump sides with Musk in rightwing row over worker visas
Trump's calls to slash immigration were central to his election victory but Big Tech says the U.S. produces too few highly skilled graduates.
The competition rate of employment examinations for public school teachers in Japan hit the lowest levels for all of elementary, junior high and high schools since data began being compiled in fiscal 1979.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024
Japan sees record low competition rate for becoming school teachers
The decline reflected the mass departure of teachers who reached retirement age, which led to increased demand for new recruits, as well as a decrease in the number of applicants.
U.S. Steel workers who support the takeover by Nippon Steel rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September.
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2024
Rejecting the Nippon Steel bid is a slap in the face to Japan
Nippon Steel has not given up and continues to lobby U.S. officials and steelworkers, arguing the deal would grow U.S. Steel, protect jobs, and strengthen the industry.
The labor ministry conducted the survey on foreign workers, the first of its kind, in October to November last year.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024
Many foreign workers in Japan face high employment agency fees
The survey found that 14.4% of foreign workers in Japan are facing problems or difficulties at work.
Riot police march in front of the main building of Ssangyong Motor in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Aug. 6, 2009.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 25, 2024
The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
A struggling car giant in South Korea announcing in 2009 it was laying off more than 2,600 people resulted in an occupation of its factory.
The government will raise adjustment allowances for public school teachers, paid instead of overtime, for the first time since the special measures law on salaries of public school teachers came into force in 1972.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan decides on 10% boost to teacher allowances
The hike, expected to start in January 2026, would be the first since the law came into force in 1972.
Small businesses in Ino, a town in Kochi Prefecture known for its paper industry, show how a labor shortage is a growing threat to smaller companies that provide seven out of every 10 jobs in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2024
Small businesses with low wages struggle to tackle labor shortages
A worker shortage is threatening firms that are otherwise robust, including those that have invested in automation and creative hiring.
Self-Defense Force members march in formation at Camp Asaka, which straddles Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, during a ceremony on Nov. 9.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2024
Japan ready to improve working conditions for SDF members
Improving working conditions for the members "is a serious challenge" for his administration, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers.
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2024
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The poll found that people worry most about their own health, plans for life after retirement, and the outlook for future income and assets.
Nomura Holdings and other major brokerages in Japan are raising compensation and benefits for senior employees age 60 or over.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2024
At Japan's brokerages, skills shortage improves conditions for older staff
Employees age 60 and above are increasingly getting paid for performance and given heavier responsibilities in line with their experience.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (second from left) speaks at a ministerial meeting on foreign workers at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024
Japan begins process to replace controversial foreign trainee program
An expert panel has been appointed to assist the government in drafting a system to replace the controversial Technical Intern Training Program.
Japan's labor productivity ranked last place among the Group of Seven major economies in 2023.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024
Japan's labor productivity rises to 29th among OECD countries
Japan's per-hour productivity in 2023 came to $56.8, or ¥5,379 based on purchasing power parity, up two notches from the all-time low logged the year before.
Lekh Juneja, chairman and CEO of Kameda Seika, at the company's headquarters in the city of Niigata in August
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 15, 2024
Indian-born CEO of Japanese company says nation needs immigration to thrive
Japan has very few foreign-born CEOs, and boardrooms are overwhelmingly male.
Tour guides wait to collect tour groups from Hong Kong outside the Shenzhen Bay border crossing in Shenzhen, China
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2024
Educated young Chinese turn to tour guiding as job market wavers
Tour guiding is becoming an increasingly popular fallback option in a China rife with employment instability as the economy slows.
"Agent" technology goes further than chatbots, not just performing parlor tricks and spitting out plausible responses to queries but actually doing the kinds of repetitive tasks that today are handled by millions of humans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 14, 2024
Big Tech's new AI obsession: 'Agents' that do your work for you
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls agents "the next giant breakthrough," while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says the shift "is really the rise of digital labor.”
Commuters in Tokyo in March 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Ruling bloc proposes ¥1.23 million minimum threshold for taxable income
Tax chiefs from the LDP, Komeito and DPP plan to meet again as early as Tuesday after the DPP, which seeks to raise the threshold to ¥1.78 million, opposed the proposal.
Populist and far-right parties globally are gaining working-class support as center-left parties fail to address their economic concerns and cultural disconnects.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024
The working class and the rise of populism
Talking about creating good jobs in the industries of the future is not the same as doing it. Workers want bold, effective leaders who will take concrete action.

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A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake