The government is considering plans to create a holiday called "Kids Week," in an ongoing effort to change the country's workaholic culture and allow more time for families. The hope is that the proposed holiday will boost private consumption and encourage workers to use their ...
Japanese workers devoting themselves to working massively long hours for their employers might be becoming a thing of the past. Nearly half of newly employed people said they would leave the office when their work was done even if their superiors or colleagues were working ...
Japan should crack down on excessive unpaid overtime in order to boost productivity, as the nation's irreversible labor shortage means companies must streamline to cope with fewer people, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief Japan economist. "A small portion of overtime goes into the ...
Major trading firm Itochu Corp. will launch a "Casual Friday" campaign, encouraging its workers not to wear suits on the final business day of the week. Itochu formally plans to revise its in-house dress codes by the end of this month, with changes that include ...
Employers across the country are scrambling to find staff, unemployment is at its lowest level in more than two decades and the labor market is tighter than it was during the nation's booming bubble economy years. This should be great news for the world's No. ...
Japan and Germany may be sitting on a ticking demographic time bomb where aging populations begin to drag down economic growth. Good thing they're also prime candidates for robot revolutions. Increased automation and more use of robotic technology in these manufacturing powerhouses could help cushion ...
From temp agencies to online grocery stores, an increasing number of businesses are offering services aimed at women looking for a better work-life balance. Tokyo-based staffing service provider B-style Inc. has experienced a surge in its human resources pool since the company began a service ...
Motherhood is changing, as are mothers' working lives — and those changes have economists concerned. For a while there, women around the world were making clear economic progress. More were working, and they were earning more (and boosting the global economy in the process). But in ...
High prices are putting new condominiums out of reach for average workers. With demand dampened by high acquisition costs, the number of new condos on offer across Japan in 2016 fell for the third year in a row, hitting the lowest level in 24 years. According ...
The tightest labor market in decades is showing signs of reversing a long shift toward the hiring of temporary workers. The number of full-time permanent workers in Japan is rising for the first time since the global financial crisis, outpacing growth in temporary jobs over ...
A bakery and cafe company in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is working to improve the wages of people with disabilities by offering know-how on product development and sales of sweets. Esquerre developed and started selling Imoma:ru — buns with sweet potato paste filling. Sweet potatoes are ...
The government has designated this July 24 as "the day of telework" in a bid to encourage people to work from home and test out the impact on traffic congestion ahead of the 2020 Olympics, which will open on July 24 of that year. Officials ...
