Unwritten perks can trump work rules, contracts, even laws
At a certain company, workers take their lunch break every day from 12 to 1 p.m. But just 10 minutes before noon, a small contingent of workers get up and leave the room. A few minutes later the fragrance of miso soup wafts in ...
Why workers can no longer wear their demands on their sleeves
Dear reader, where are you from? To what era do you belong? I was born in 1971 in Japan and grew up here, too, but I've never — in all my years visiting hotels, restaurants, shops or government offices — seen workers wearing vests, ...
Job availability improved in April to its best level in four years and nine months, as some companies became willing to hire more workers in expectation of an economic recovery, helping to keep the unemployment rate relatively low at 4.1 percent, the government said ...
Employment rates for March high school and university graduates have improved significantly, thanks largely to some 2,300 consultants at public-run job-placement centers nationwide, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said. A labor ministry report released Friday said the employment rate for college graduates rose for ...
Enabling people to pursue a career while raising a child in Japan — beyond taking longer child-care leave — ranks as a major challenge for the Abe administration.
More than a third of private-sector employees worry about losing jobs
Around one-third of private-sector employees are concerned about losing their jobs, although many believe the economy is gradually picking up, an Internet survey by a think tank said Monday. The Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards conducted the survey online in early April. About ...
The government plans to submit a bill to expand the scope of current law regarding corporate obligations to increase employment of mentally disabled people.
Employers' 'box them in, drive them out' tactics fail legal test
Surely few employees would jump out of bed every morning, itching to start work at the "Department for Driving Them Out"? But what is an oidashi-beya? And what scary entities are to be driven out?
This is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad jobs report. The 88,000 net jobs added in March, if that or a similar figure holds up through revisions, is a tragedy: Nearly four years into the economic recovery, with the unemployment rate still close to 8 ...
Zen and the art of job hunting
Buddhist priests are launching initiatives to support students who are struggling to land jobs and to cope with the competitive stresses being generated by the worst economic slump since the war.
Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries
A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
Panel seeks obligatory employment of people with mental disorders
An advisory panel to the labor minister called Thursday for adding people with mental disorders to those who must be hired by private companies to promote the social advancement of people with disabilities. The proposal was issued by a panel under Health, Labor and Welfare ...
