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Change Your Life! |
Japanese companies turning to part-timers to cut costs |
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News |
May 1, 2000
TOKYO, APR 30 (AP) - With Japan's economy stuck in its deepest rut in decades, employers who used to guarantee jobs for life are now turning more to part-time workers to cut costs, a report said Sunday.
During the fiscal year that ended March 31, companies surveyed by the Labor Ministry said they employed 1 percent fewer full-time workers but 3 percent more part-time workers than they did the previous year, quasi-public broadcaster NHK reported.
It was the second straight year for the number of full-timers on the payrolls of Japanese companies to fall, and the ninth year for the number of part-timers to rise, NHK said.
Recession has put pressure on employers in the world's second-largest economy to trim their payrolls and give up the custom of guaranteeing workers a job for life.
The Labor Ministry compiled the data by surveying 33,000 enterprises with five or more employees, it said.
NHK did not give a margin of error or other details about the survey. No one was available at the Labor Ministry to comment on Sunday.
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