Tag - labor

 
 

LABOR

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 29, 2017
Tokyo court rulings chip away at labor unions' right to free speech
Workers sued for millions of yen over protests outside the company that fired them take their case to the Supreme Court.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2017
Foreign workers in Japan hit the 1 million mark for the first time last autumn: ministry
Foreign workers surpass 1 million for the first time as Japan's labor-strapped companies struggle to find workers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 26, 2017
Stingy pay raises pull the handbrake on Japan's inflation drive
As the world puts the worst of the disinflationary threat behind it, tepid wage growth is shaping up as a key restraint to a genuine reflationary era taking hold in some economies. Nowhere is this more so than Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 25, 2017
Education in Japan in 2016: new solutions and age-old problems, from teaching English to bullying
With schools well into their final term and the university academic year already winding down it's time to reflect on the most significant events in Japanese education this past year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2017
Premium Friday campaign seeks to curb Japan's long work hours
The country that coined the word karoshi (death by overwork) wants companies to let workers finish early on the last Friday of every month so that they can go out and have fun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Dec 25, 2016
Worrying times for job security in Japan
The year 2016 was no walk in the park for workers nationwide. At one extreme, we have Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old worker who felt she had no other choice but to take her life as a result of overwork.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2016
Labor market reform chief targets pay gap as balm for productivity, spending woes
The government has placed a high priority on narrowing the gap in pay and benefits between regular and contract employees as this will raise productivity and consumer spending, said Katsunobu Kato, minister for labor market reform.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 23, 2016
Ad giant Dentsu declared Most Evil Corporation of the Year
Advertising giant Dentsu Inc. has won the Most Evil Corporation of the Year Award in recognition of its culture of overwork and harassment, journalists and rights activists announce.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Dec 23, 2016
Overwork deaths put spotlight on Japan's 'black companies'
The Japanese have no clear term to describe the concept of work-life balance, but they do have one to describe the notion of dying for your company: karoshi.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2016
Japan's restaurant chains cut overnight hours to help workers, stem losses
Like convenience stores, many nationwide restaurant chains used to stay open 24 hours a day, targeting younger generations who want to dine or sip beer in the late-night hours.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2016
Labor shortage is worst in least productive industries
Japan's aging and shrinking population is causing labor shortages that should be helping workers win higher pay.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2016
Despite legislation, danger of exploiting foreign workers remains
Rather than relying on foreign 'trainees' to compensate for labor shortages, Japan should establish apprenticeship programs to give citizens needed skills.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016
'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs
I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2016
Wages rise, hours fall for part-time workers
Over the last 10 years, Japan's 14 million part-time workers cut their working hours by more than 6 percent. They now work about 4.5 hours a day.

Longform

A woman passes an "akichi" (vacant lot) in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. The capital is littered with such small lots in part because of Japan's aging and shrinking population.
Dealing with rising land vacancies as Japan shrinks