オリックス・宮内義彦
「国際競争力において出てくる問題は生産性である。生産性を上げるためには雇用に手をつけざるをえない」
ウシオ電機・牛尾治郎
「終身雇用などの日本的雇用の維持にはコストがかかる。 経済成長が3%以下とみられている90代においては維持できない」
これに対し、日本的経営こそが日本の競争力を支えてきたという意見が相次いだ。
日産自動車・塙義一
「経営環境が厳しいからといって、終身雇用を一方的に廃止することは従業員との契約違反である」
新日鉄・今井敬
「今まで日本のやり方が果たしてきた良さは十分に認識すべき。 企業の論理から終身雇用などの雇用形態を変えるのは、企業の身勝手だと思う」
“The issue on the global competitions is productivity. In order for Japanese companies to improve it, we had no choice but to change the employment system.”
The CEO of ORIX, Yoshihiko Miyauchi
“Maintaining the Japanese employment system including the lifetime employment system costs a lot. It is impossible to do it in 1990’s whose economic growth is considered to be less than 3%.”
The CEO of Ushio, Jiro Ushio
On the other hand, there were a bunch of opinions that the Japanese management style supported Japan’s competitiveness.
What Japan’s management style has contributed to our society should be recognized. Changing the employment form from the logic of companies is nothing more than selfishness.”
The CEO of Nippon Steel, Takashi Imai
“Even if the management environment is severe, it will be breach of contract with employees if companies abolish the lifetime employment system.”
The CEO of Nissan, Hanawa
Japanese Employment System
Photo: GAC TOYOTA MOTOR CO
2002年、宮内らは日本企業の雇用のあり方を変えようと動く。
国の総合規制改革会議の議長として製造業派遣の解禁を提言した。(小泉政権)
In 2002, Miyauchi took action, aiming to change the Japanese employment system.
As a chairman of the conference of the general regulation reform, he proposed the lifting of the ban on hiring contract (temporary) workers in the manufacturing industry to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The prime minister Junichiro Koizumi accepted the proposal.
During the Koizumi cabinet, some very important things which later made a lot of people have financial issues were determined.
Deregulation of Temporary Employment
製造業派遣解禁の補足説明
During the Koizumi cabinet, deregulation of temporary employment (non-regular employment) was extended to the manufacturing industry which had been prohibited until then.
As the rise of Asian competitors had become a menace to Japanese manufacturing companies, they needed to cut personnel expenses in order to be more price competitive.
The CEO of ORIX, Yoshihiko Miyauchi, suggested that the government should implement the deregulation and this was spread immediately afterwards.
The biggest difference between temporary and regular employment is that perquisites are not given to the temporary employees by companies such as bonus, welfare pension insurance, transportation expenses, and etc.
In addition, companies often terminate their employment contracts suddenly when their track records get worse. Therefore, manufacturers have reaped the benefits of the cost reduction significantly.
Temporary Employees
派遣社員に関する補足説明
In contrast, the temporary employees’ lives have become very unstable because non-regular employment force the workers to have lower salaries. This also forces them to struggle to get married, get mortgage, raise kids, and etc due to the lower income.
An improvement in working conditions for them has been demanded for decades, but nothing has changed at all. If anything, the situation has worsened.
Now non-regular employment rate has already surpassed 40% of the entire employment opportunities and the rate is supposed to continue increasing.
No matter if you are a college graduate, there is a high likelihood that you can’t get a full-time job and have no choice but to work as a temporary employee.
Temporary Employment
派遣（契約）社員に関する補足説明
Additionally, once you get hired as a temporary worker, it might be very difficult to get back to full-time job. This is because a number of Japanese companies prioritize job applicants’ professional experience.
Since temporary employment has lower social status, even if they have great skill-sets, rejection is often given to them due to their previous backgrounds.
This is nothing more than prejudice, but unfortunately it has become usual in Japan. This negative consequence has caused various issues and some cases are critical, contrasting sharply with the benefits that companies have reaped.
