Nonprofit organizations and Diet members fear they will see a surge in suicides among temporary workers subjected to massive dismissals as the plunging economy gives them no room to survive with little financial or housing support.
Suicides in 2007 surpassed 30,000 for the 10th straight year, but unlike in 1998, when the unemployment rate topped 4 percent for the first time ever and key financial firms went bust, idled temp workers now lack the protections provided to laid-off workers a decade ago.
NGO and Diet members gathered Thursday to call on the government to take measures to prevent suicides among the temp ranks, including by providing shelter and other means of support.