The labor ministry said in a report Friday that 124,802 nonregular employees in Japan have lost or are expected to lose their jobs in the six-month period ending in March 2009.
The figure represents a 50 percent jump from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's projection in December and highlights the severity of the labor market, where companies are cutting jobs left and right, mainly temporary workers in the manufacturing sector.
The survey said that a combined 1,215 college or high school students scheduled to graduate in March had advance job offers canceled in the half-year period — about 60 percent higher than in December and the highest since comparable data became available in fiscal 1993.
It also eclipses the previous high of 1,077 in fiscal 1997, when the financial sector nearly melted down after the collapse of Yamaichi Securities Co.
More companies are likely to cut jobs or cancel student job offers as the March 31 end of fiscal 2008 draws near, especially export-oriented automakers and electrical firms.
Temporary workers accounted for 85,743, or 68.7 percent, of the jobs lost during the October-March period.
The rest includes 23,247 contract employees, among them seasonal workers, 10,456 subcontract workers, and 5,356 workers in other categories.
Of the temporary workers, 49.8 percent were notified of corporate decisions to abruptly terminate their employment contracts, the survey said.
The dispatch of temp workers to the manufacturing sector was legalized in March 2004 as a way of enhancing the global competitiveness of Japanese companies. It has been criticized by opposition parties as a convenient way of adjusting payrolls.
Of all nonregular workers axed, 3,125 managed to find new work, representing only 10.2 percent of those tracked by the firms concerned.
The poll found that 2,675 workers were ousted from housing facilities after their contracts were terminated, or 5.8 percent of those monitored.