The 3 million-plus jobless people and 17 million without full-time work will probably be casting their vote in the July 11 Upper House election for whichever party can offer ways to stabilize employment and provide economic security.
While one of the reasons behind the Democratic Party of Japan's victory in last year's general election is widely considered to be the Liberal Democratic Party's failure to improve people's livelihoods, it remains to be seen how effective the DPJ will be in rectifying the battered labor situation.
Makoto Yuasa, a grassroots antipoverty activist who also serves as an adviser to the Cabinet Office in Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government, said the DPJ has so far been heading in "the right direction."