Working Hour Schemes for White-Collar Employees in Japan  

Oleh:

Shimada, Yoichi

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Japan Labor Review vol. 1 no. 4 (2004), page 48-69.
Topik: WHITE COLLAR WORKERS; working hour schemes; white - collar employees
Fulltext: Yoichi Shimada.pdf (82.29KB)

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Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: JJ134.1 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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Currently in Japan, regulations concerning the working hours of white collar employees have come under scrutiny. As the performance - based wage system is being more widely applied to white - collar workers, there are increasing calls to revise the linkage between working hours and wage determination, a policy that is prevalent under conventional human resource management. One typical example is the request to adopt a “white - collar exemption scheme” whereby white - collar workers would be exempt from coverage offered by regulations on working hours under the Labour Standards Law. However, there are certain factors which should cause one to hesitate before moving towards such an exclusion. Although official statistics show that total annual working hours have decreased - to 1,837 hours in 2002 - unpaid overtime (the infamous so - called “service overtime”) has again become a focus of attention, mostly due to the spread of the self declaration system in the management of working hour and the management scheme known as total labor expenses. To deal with this state of affairs, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2001 published “criteria for measures that employers should take to gain a proper grasp of working hours (Labour Standards Bureau Notification [kihatsu] No. 339, April 6, 2001),” and put supervision and guidance concerning unpaid overtime at the top of their priority list. As a result, in 2002, the number of cases heard by Labour Standards Inspection Bureaus in which they called for unpaid overtime to be paid more than doubled in a 10 year period, marking a record high of approximately 17,000 cases. At the same time, similar cases sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office reportedly totaled 49 (an increase of 15 over the previous year). According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, between October 2002 and March 2003, firms where the amount of unpaid overtime exceeded ¥1 million numbered 403, the total amount of unpaid overtime standing at ¥7.23899 billion. Accordingly, on May 23, 2003, the ministry issued an “Outline for Comprehensive Measures against Unpaid Overtime,” in which it drew up guidelines for measures to be taken to eliminate unpaid overtime. Hesitation to exclude white - collar workers from regulations on working hours does not entirely stem from the issue of unpaid wages. It is also attributable to the claim that white - collar employees work excessively long hours. Labor economist Yuji Genda notes that with the prolonged recession, cutbacks in new hiring and an increase in the amount of everyday work tend to increase the proportion of workers who work 60 hours or more per week, particularly young workers in large firms. Meanwhile, a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare indicates that the rate of taking paid - holidays has been decreasing since 1997, falling as low as 48.4 percent in 2002 The rate is lower than that marked in 1988, which was 50 percent, when regulations on working hours were drastically revised. These facts undoubtedly convey the severe working conditions affecting today’s white - collar workers. Kazuo Sugeno, a leading expert on labor law, has said that this situation “Appears to give the impression that in regard to working hours, we are facing a new problem that is once again rooted in the long - term employment system.” Taking the situation as described above, it seems that the current system concerning working hours is in appropriate when applied to white - collar workers, and thus certainly needs revision. At the same time, however, one cannot simply conclude that it is sensible to exclude such workers from regulations on working hours. The question is, what is the ideal form that regulations on working hours should take when applied to white - collar workers. This article surveys how white - collar workers have been treated within the framework of working hour regulations, taking into consideration whether legal controls on working hours are necessary for white - collar workers in the 21st century, and, if so, what kind of legal framework is required. Bearing these questions in mind, Section 2 reviews previous regulations on working hours, and how they were applied to white - collar workers, while Section 3 discusses the special characteristics of whitecollar workers and suitable forms of regulations on working hours. Finally, Section 4 makes some suggestions for the ideal forms that regulations on working hours for white - collar workers should take. Incidentally, there is no legally defined term for “white - collar.” This article, therefore, relies on the occupational classification used in the 2000 Population Census in Japan, and tentatively considers “professional and technical workers” (13.5%), “managers and officials” (2.9%), “clerical and related workers” (19.2%), and “sales workers” as white - collar workers (15.1%).7 Using this definition, white - collar workers account for 50.7 % percent of all employed people.

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