Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 9 - 15 [LABOR]

Job market for laid-off workers remains depressed

Only 30% of laid-off workers can find a new job within six months after their dismissals, according to a report released on October 7 by the Labor Ministry.

The Labor Ministry conducted an analysis of whether laid-off workers who received support from their companies in job searches can find new employment.

Under Japan’s Employment Measure Law, when a company intends to reduce more than 30 workers in a month at one workplace, it is required to submit to the public employment security office, called “Hellowork”, a plan offering assistance to those targeted workers in finding a new job.

The Labor Ministry’s report shows that between October 2011 and March 2012, among 50,000 unemployed workers who were subject to their employers’ job-search assistance program, 13.5% succeeded in entering a new company within three months after being displaced from their workplaces, 18% took another three months to find jobs, and 57.1% needed nearly one year before they found a job.

Regarding the percentage of workers who began to work again within a year after dismissal, 70% of workers aged between 20 and 24 did so while less than 60% of workers in their late 40s and less than 40% workers aged 55 and over found jobs.

Even with corporate help, laid-off workers have difficulties in securing a job. The need is to tighten the rules on dismissal.