Japan’s 'Workless Society' Why are young workless people becoming a social issue in Japan, a country with a low unemployment rate?
1. Japan’s
“Workless
Society”
Why
are
young
workless
people
becoming
a
social
issue
in
Japan,
a
country
with
a
low
unemployment
rate?
11, Nov. 2014@ The University of Sheffield
Ryosuke Nishida
Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier
Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
ryosukenishida@gmail.com
2. 2
Ryosuke Nishida
• Associate Professor, Graduate School of Core Ethics
and Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University.
• Ph. D(Media and Governance), Keio University
• Major in Public Policy and Sociology of Japan.
• Author of Net Senkyo (Online Election Campaign in
Japan)
• Co-Author of Mugyo-Shakai (Workless Society).
5. Current
Situa@on of
Japan’s
“Workless
Society”
•
“Discovery”
of
Young
Workless
as
Social
Problem
in
Japan
• The
unemployment
rate
in
Japan:
4.6%(2011),
4.3%(2012),
and
4.0%(2013)
–
Exceeding
6%
in
Young
Genera@on
• Rising
the
Importance
of
Differences
between
“Workless”
and
“Unemployment”
in
Japan
• Changes
in
the
Social
Environment
Surrounding
the
Young
Genera@on
–
but
few
Poli@cal
and
Effec@ve
Supports
for
Them
5
6. “Japanese System” and
Japan’s “Workless Society”
• the
Concept
of
“Japanese
System”
– Japanese
Management,
Employment
Customs
and
Labor
market
• Simultaneous
Recrui@ng
of
New
Graduates
• Life-‐long
Employment
• Enterprise
Labor
Unions
– Japan-‐Style
Welfare
• Medium
Level
of
Welfare
for
medium
burden
• With
Co-‐Opera@on
Government,
Companies,
and
Employers
Providing
Finance
to
Support
Social
Welfare
–
Centralized
Decision
Making
and
a
System
for
Re-‐
Alloca@on
of
Resources
6
7. Historical Change of
Japan’s “Workless Society”
• Social
welfare
Ini@a@ves
by
GHQ
as
External
Pressure
•
“Welfare
Backed
by
Economic
Growth,
and
Further
Economic
Growth
Supported
by
Welfare”(Kakuei
Tanaka,
1972,
BUILDING
A
NEW
JAPAN:
A
Plan
for
Remodeling
the
Japanese
Archipelago.)
• No
Clear
Principles
in
Welfare
System
• Demographic
Changes
and
the
Failure
of
Japanese
Employment
System
Happen
Almost
Simultaneously
– The
Effects
Mainly
Concentrated
in
Young
people.
7
8. Historical Change of
Japan’s “Workless Society”
• Media
Spotlights
in
2000’s
– Toshiki
Sato,
2000,
Fubyodo
Shakai
Nihon:
Sayonara
Sochuryu
(The
Inegalitarian
Society,
Japan:
Farewell
to
the
Mass
Middle
Class),
Chuokoron-‐Shinsha,
Inc.
– Yuji
Genda
and
Mie
Maganuma,
2004,
Niito:
Furiita
Demo
Naku
Shitsugyosha
Demo
Naku
(NEETs:
Neither
Job-‐hoppers
Nor
Unemployed),
Gentosha
– Yuki
Honda,
Kazutomo
Goto,
Asao
Naito,
2006,
Niito
te
Iuna
(Don't
Say
NEET),
Kobunsha
– Toshiaki
Tachibanaki,
2006,
Kakusa
Shakai:
Nani
ga
Mondai
nanoka
(Unequal
Society:
What
is
its
Main
Cause),
Iwanami
Shoten
– Tomohiro
Akagi,
2007,Wakamono
wo
Migoroshi
ni
suru
Kuni:
Watashi
o
Senso
ni
Mukawaseru
Mono
wa
Nanika
(The
Country
that
Watches
Its
Young
People
Die:
What
Sets
me
on
the
Path
to
War),
Sofusha
– (TV
Programs)
NHK,
2010,
Muen
Shakai
(No
Social
Capital
Society),
2011
Kozoku
no
Kuni
(A
Country
of
Loners)
– Shigeyuki
Jo,
2012,
Wakamono
wo
Korosu
no
ha
Dareka?
(Who
is
Killing
the
Young
People?),
Fusosha
– Yuji
Genda,
2013,
Koritsu
Mugyo
(SNEP)
(Solitary
Non-‐employed
Persons
(SNEP)),
Nikkei
– Kei
Kudo
and
Ryosuke
Nishida,
2014,
MUGYO
SHAKAI,
Asahi-‐Shinbun
Publicaion.
8
9. Tentative Policy Implications for
Japan’s “Workless Society”
• “Inclusiveness”
– Outreach,
Finding,
and
Preven@ng
• “Con@nuity”
– Con@nuous
Governmental
and
Social
Support
for
Skilled
Labor
and
High-‐Value-‐Added
Labor
– Many
of
the
current
status
of
employment
support,
is
only
induced
to
unskilled
labor.
• “Support
for
Second
Chances”
– Tolerant
society
to
fail
and
start
again
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