L. V. ZHILINA

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor

Omsk State University named after F. M. Dostoevsky

Keywords: Japanese youth, employment problems, survey, current issues

In the new millennium, Japan has faced a unique set of economic challenges, including the employment of the younger generation (while the number of unemployed in other countries, such as the United States, is steadily declining) ^.1 Despite the fact that, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Health)², in the period from January to March 2014, the unemployment rate in the country as a whole decreased to 3.6% and the ratio of active vacancies for applicants increased to 1.05 per place (which indicates a steady increase in employment3). The problem of youth unemployment in Japanese society is clearly identified.

To get more detailed data on the state of the labor force in the country, the Ministry of Health of Japan in 2014 conducted a survey among young Japanese people aged 15 to 34 years. Statistics of the "Youth Employment Survey" ⁴, which appeared as a result of a survey conducted by officials, could not but surprise. It turned out that at a time when the majority of Japanese citizens in this age range are involved in labor relations, many young people prefer to take part-time positions and get temporary or part-time jobs.

Perhaps this situation is caused by the fact that most Japanese companies are unable or unwilling to use their employees for more than a certain amount of time during the week. This may also be the result of the fact that these young people themselves prefer to work only a few hours a week, relying on their parents and their financial support. After all, 40.3% of young Japanese people who took part in the survey answered the question: "What is your main source of income?" : "Parents ' income"! That is, a very impressive number of young Japanese people do not believe that the income that their employment gives them should cover more everyday expenses and provide a certain standard of living.

Of course, the life situations of each of them may be different, but there is also a serious reason for concern: people of active working age are not able to provide their wages with an acceptable standard of living for them. This state of youth unemployment in Japan is usually attributed to a change in the attitude of young Japanese people to work, and it is partly voluntary.⁵

However, the analysis of youth employment revealed other reasons that are very far from the existing simplified ideas. Based on the report presented by the Ministry of Health, the number of part-time employees in the country has significantly increased and the number of full-time employees has decreased, while many companies have increased wages, including basic ones. In comparison with the previous period of economic recovery after the 2007 crisis, this was marked by the appearance of additional working hours and an increase in the number of employed people (see figure 1).

All of the above indicates that the situation on the labor market is gradually leveling off. And now, with the Japanese economy showing signs of recovery, more companies are announcing plans to hire "fresh-baked" university graduates. But still the possibility of stable employment

Figure 1. Change in the number of employees in Japan (all industries).

Source: Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Communications: "Labor Force Survey - http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw5/dl/23010701e.pdf

Note. At the time of writing, the site does not provide any more recent data for comparison purposes.

among young people with a lower level of education (not university) is very limited, which spurs the growth in the number of so-called fmeters and NEETs.

THE NI-NI GENERATION

The term freeters (from the English free - free and German. arbeiter - worker, employee) It was first introduced in the late 1980s, when the Japanese economy was booming. This was the name given in Japan to young people who refused to work full-time in the company's staff in favor of temporary and part-time jobs, or moved from one job to another. Many of them hoped that they could later become professional musicians, actors,or other representatives of the creative profession - they have not yet decided which one.

Thus, this term was introduced in order to distinguish young people who are not tied to work or have not decided on their future profession.⁶ However, in the early 1990s, the number of young Japanese people who could not find a permanent job began to grow, and many of them were already forced to work in temporary employment.⁷ And they were also called freeters, like young people who had not yet decided on a career choice. According to recent research, the number of freeters in the original sense of the term is no more than 10-20% of all young representatives of Japanese society. As this situation has become more than obvious, the emphasis in terminology has shifted from "the peculiar attitude of young people to work" to "real problems with employment". In the early 2000s, due to the emerging trend of increasing the number of young people who do not enter the labor market even after they receive professional education, the term NEET(Not in E education, employment or T raining) has now been introduced in the UK. NEITHER study NOR work). Some researchers interpreted this phenomenon as a reaction to the tight economic framework and increased demands of the labor market, while others interpreted it as a lack of incentive to work and the refusal of young people to acquire any professional skills or find a profession for their own purposes.

Figure 2. Changes in the number and ratio of part-time workers (who work less than 35 hours per week).

Source: Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Communications - http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw3/dl/7 -14. pdf

Note. At the time of writing, the site does not provide any more recent data for comparison purposes.

the soul, as well as the lack of ability (or desire?) interact and connect with others ⁸. A problem that has existed for a long time, but for a long time did not cause concern on the part of society, is finally recognized as a fairly serious social and economic threat to society.

NOTHING PERSONAL - JUST BUSINESS

The labor market reform implemented in Japan in 2003 dramatically expanded the opportunities for employers to hire staff on temporary contracts, i.e. for up to one year in industry and up to three years in the service sector. It was allowed to employ engineering personnel, doctors and nurses, Japanese and foreign trade employees on fixed - term contracts.⁹ According to data published in December 2015, 40.5% of employees of private companies in Japan work on a part-time basis. And this figure exceeded ⁴⁰% for the first time10. Until the early 1990s, Japan had a labor market for" fresh-baked " graduates, regardless of their educational level. The process of moving from "school directly to work" was generally seen as the entry point to "lifetime employment" - a well-known common practice of long-term employment in the Japanese model of economic management. Almost all of those who were looking for work, whether male or female, were accepted as full-time full-time employees.

fixed term of the contract. However, such a system provided labor guarantees mainly for men, who were the only earners and whose labor income allowed them to support their families. At the same time, this policy of encouraging male employment has become an obstacle for Japanese women to play an active role in society.¹¹

For example, it was initially assumed that women would work for a certain period of time, and then leave their jobs to get married and take care of their children. A few years later, they will re-enter the labor market, taking low-paying or part-time jobs. French employment researcher T. Ribot identified three periods of high unstable employment among women: the first - at the age of 15-19 years, the second - at the age of 40-44 years, and the third - after 65 years. They correspond to three different stages of a woman's life cycle: study and / or the period before marriage, return to the labor market after the birth and upbringing of a second child, and search for additional income in the absence of a pension ¹².

The fact that most women returned to the labor market on a part-time basis was primarily due to the division of responsibilities in the family, where they remained responsible for most of the housework and raising children. This explains the overwhelming presence in the part-time employment market in Japan of representatives of the beautiful part of humanity (see fig. 2). In addition, in a society that has created a powerful "internal labor market", there are

Chart 3. Japan's aging population (forecast).

Source: Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bureau of Statistics, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research -http://www.stat.go.jp/english/

there is a very limited number of places in this very market for those who would like to have a permanent full-time job.

For men, getting a job in a company was very important, because it was assumed that they would be offered "long-term contracts". But even for women who were forced to leave their jobs for some time for the above-mentioned reasons, this was also very relevant and important. One of the reasons for such interest on the part of the weaker sex was that in the workplace for them very often there was a real opportunity to find a partner for marriage (which for modern Japanese women and Japanese people was also a problem, especially in megacities ¹³). And those who missed this chance to "get a job" (literally and figuratively) became freeters and NEETs - currently these are both men and unmarried women from 15 to 34 years old.

RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE ...

According to researchers, in the 2000s, the value orientations of Japanese teenagers and those in their twenties changed significantly compared to the life priorities of their parents ' generation, who lived in conditions of daily hard work and were selflessly devoted to their companies. However, scientific research has shown that this view was largely an exaggeration and that economic stagnation and institutional dynamics can much better explain the rapidly changing behavior of young people in the labor market14.

If in 1992 60% of NEETs were in the age range from 15 to 24 years, then in 1997 the age range shifted by 5 years (from 20 to 29 years). In 2002, there was another 5-year shift (from 25 to 34 years). In other words, the core group of NEETs and freeters began to gradually "age", showing that this is not just a youth issue, but a problem of the entire Japanese society.

During the period that was marked in Japan by the aftermath of the ^{baby boom} 15, companies changed their recruitment policies to make them more selective. And now this is no longer just a youth problem: the generation whose" core " was freeters and NEETs has aged, while remaining the same freeters and NEETs, often living with their parents and, at times, very dependent on them financially. And since their parents are those who had children during the second baby boom (if in the 1970s they were 20-25 years old, today they are 65-70), then in the near future they will already start to retire.

As for the very first representatives of the "NI-NI" generation, they are now approaching their 40-50-year milestone and, eventually, can start living at the expense of their already elderly parents on their old-age pension16. And if the younger generation does not take on the costs of maintaining the social security system, the system itself will be compromised. After all, it is predicted that in the next 50 years, more than 40% of the population of Japan will be citizens over the age of 65 (see figure 3). This situation requires an extremely large proportion of the working-age generation in order to cover subsequent expenditures on the national health system and pension costs from the State treasury.¹⁷

The working-age population in Japan will decline due to an aging population and a declining birth rate. As the demographic forecast shows, the situation on the labor market will only worsen in the future. Demographers estimate that the working population will decline by ¹¹% between 2010 and 2030.18

In such a situation, it is not entirely clear how Japan's social security system can still exist. The current system was created in the post-war period and is clearly structured to rely on young people for its viability.¹⁹ And what bright economic future can Japan have when 40.3% of the young working-age population cannot earn enough to invest in their future ²⁰?

THE PRICE OF THE ISSUE IS LIFE

A study conducted in Japan revealed another aspect of the employment of people with a so-called "lifetime employment contract" or long-term employment. For example, 22.5% of all respondents with a regular income work more than 50 hours a week. Although this is a relatively small percentage of people who adhere to the "traditional culture of attitude to work", it is necessary to make a reservation - we are talking about young Japanese people aged 15 to 34 years (perhaps almost half

this age group still goes to school, and this percentage will increase in terms of actually working young Japanese people).

"Work attitude culture" is a kind of stereotype that is ingrained in the mind of the average Japanese worker with an average salary. But how long do they work overtime in this case? On average, according to the results of the study, such an employee stays at the workplace for up to 3.2 hours overtime per day! With such an intensity of work, severe overwork can occur, and anyone can be overtaken by karoshi (Japanese-death from overwork at work). To the question: "Do monthly workloads reach 80 hours?" -7.2% of respondents answered in the affirmative. These are the young people who work almost "hard".

While in other countries, a similar survey result on overtime might raise public concerns about the health of their citizens, in Japan, they are likely more concerned about the growing number of young people who are unable to support themselves.²¹

ALIGNMENT TO GLOBALIZATION

In a globalizing economy, the demand for workers with higher education is a prerequisite. But, paradoxically, the trend of increasing the number of unemployed among young people may be caused to some extent by the process of globalization itself.

Japan's response to globalization has been to significantly reform its labor market, but in a highly asymmetric way. Senior government and business elites of Japan actively resisted such pressure, defending the classical system of employment (lifetime employment) - the central cultural symbol of Japan, which was used to restrain reforms aimed at expanding the peripheral labor force and the emergence of new participants in the labor market. In doing so, they have blocked a large part of the working potential - young people, who should offer innovative ideas and strategies that help to increase competitiveness in ^the global market22.

In the growing popularity of pursuing a career as a civil servant, most young Japanese people actually still hold relatively conservative views on life and remain security-oriented (i.e., trying to get a stable job-civil servant positions give them this sense of economic security for their future).²³. In conditions when the state does not seek to compensate for losses from the lack of opportunities in the labor market, it becomes relevant for young people to seek economic security (as well as confirmation of their adult status) through competition when applying for vacancies in large organizations...

The link between graduating from an elite university and getting a job at a large corporation is now stronger than ever. ²⁴ And "part-time employment", as well as the short-term employment contract, is now proliferating in tandem with an increase in the level of education.²⁵ However, while vacancies and employment prospects for high school graduates are very vague, graduates of prestigious universities are still in demand. But here, too, we should make a reservation: if in the early 1990s more than half of university graduates were able to get permanent jobs in major corporations, in the 2000s only a quarter of them managed to do so26. After all, it was in the 1990s, during the economic downturn, that firms began to restrict the training of their employees and became more demanding when hiring new graduates. As a result, the number of those who failed to get a job increased dramatically, and they joined the ranks of the unemployed, fmeters and NEETs.

Demand for workers with an average level of education remains low, despite the fact that today the main problem of the Japanese labor market is a shortage of workers. At the same time, the abundance of vacancies does not necessarily correspond to the needs of job seekers.²⁷ The paradox is that with the official low unemployment rate in Japan, there is an acute shortage in the labor market in road transport, retail, health care and, especially, in construction. Due to a shortage of construction workers and qualified engineers, tenders for public infrastructure projects planned for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are being delayed.²⁸

Why, then, did Japanese corporations reduce the number of vacancies for graduates?

This was caused not only by the recession, but also reflected changes in employment - many companies have reduced the number of permanent employees in order to adapt more easily to changes in the modern business environment. Also in Japan, the wage gap between employees with long-term contracts and part-time employees in temporary jobs is very large. Therefore, most of those who work in temporary positions or part - time jobs are "aged" women (which is an echo of the deep-rooted gender division of labor in Japan). The most common reasons for hiring temporary employees are wage savings (38.6%), the desire to balance the workload during certain hours or days (32.9%), and the desire to verify the activity and professional abilities of the employee (30.7%) ²⁹. Moreover, the ability to develop professional skills also depends on the form of employment of the employee. Companies invest in programs designed to improve the skills of their regular employees.

We should also not forget that access to higher education in Japan is increasingly dependent on the financial resources of parents, rather than on the abilities of the children themselves. The state has always sought to minimize state investment in education. Tuition fees, on which most private universities ' revenues depend, tend to come out of the pocket of the population, rather than from national or business sources.³⁰ Thus, the income of parents determines the level of education of the child, and the educational level, in turn, determines the type of employment, and the type of employment determines the possibility of obtaining additional professional skills. And in this case, after all, there is a tendency to a rigid division according to social status in society.

WHICH ONES ARE TEMPORARY?

Currently, at the stage of economic recovery, the number of jobs for newly minted graduates of higher educational institutions is increasing, but the relevance of solving the issue of youth employment is not decreasing in any way. While Japanese companies still consider new graduates as the main source of replenishment of their ranks and raise the bar of requirements for applicants, preference is given to applicants who are "in the middle of a career path", qualified young people who can then become permanent employees.

However, when hiring job seekers who are in the middle of their professional career, as a rule, they consider candidates who still have experience as full-time employees in other companies. And fmeters who previously held part-time positions have very little chance of receiving invitations from employers to open vacancies. In Japanese companies, there is a wide gap not only in wages and in the system of calculating various benefits for permanent full-time employees and temporary or part-time employees, but also serious differences in the scope of responsibilities of both. NEETs has even fewer prospects in obtaining such vacancies. Taking into account the fact that the employment market in Japan has a fairly strict age limit, it can be understood that it will now be extremely difficult for freeters and NEETs to take full-time positions. And this suggests a sad conclusion - if someone becomes freeters orIf he / she doesn't have enough time, then it will be extremely difficult for him / her to become a permanent employee with the prospect of a long-term employment contract. In the Japanese fairy tale "about Cinderella" was not such a joyful ending...

According to R. Kosugi, Director of the Japan Institute of Labor Policy and Vocational Training, "it is necessary to develop ways to provide adaptive assistance for part-time young people and those who are out of work, to teach them skills and encourage them to find a job that will make it possible for them to earn the highest income and give them a chance to start a family. This does not necessarily mean a return to a "Japanese-style" employment structure with a focus on permanent employment (lifelong hiring), but at the very least, it will require attracting young Japanese people to work full-time or part-time, creating a real opportunity for them to acquire professional skills outside of companies."³¹

As Japanese youth, being under strong cultural pressure and pressure from various social institutions-

will it be able to adapt its behavior and rather weak life motivation in the context of globalization? When young people are employed part-time, then they probably have enough free time to influence public policy? It is these questions that are becoming the first priority of the most important, waiting and priority answers in Japan.

"Or is there nothing more permanent than temporary" ³²?

¹ Unemployment rate in the United States from 1990 to 2015 - The Statistics Portal - http://www.statista.com/statistics/193290/unemployment-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/

² The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan was formed by the merger of the former Ministry of Health and Social Security and the Ministry of Labor in 2001. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/

³ The ratio of active vacancies for active applicants in July 2014 was 1 to 10 , the highest level in the last 22 years. White Paper on the Labour Economy 2014 Summary - http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/1economy/2014/index.html

⁴ General Survey of Employment of Young People -http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/

^{Ribaull Th.} 5 Marche du travail et chomage des jeunes au Japon // Problemes econ. P., 2002, N 2788, p. 19 - 26.

⁶ См.: Cook E.E. Expectations of Failure: Maturity and Masculinity for Freeters in Contemporary Japan // Social Science Japan Journal. 16.01.2013, p. 29 - 43.

^{Abegglen J.C.} 7 21st Century Japanese Management. New System, Lasting Values. N.Y. 2006, p. 84 - 85.

^{Kosugi R.} 8 Youth Employment in Japan's Economic Recovery: 'Freeters' and 'NEETs' // The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus. May 2006. Vol. 4, Issue 5 - http://apjjf.org/-Kosugi-Reiko/2022/article.html

⁹ Russia and the World: 2016. Economics and foreign policy. Annual Forecast, Moscow: IMEMO RAS, 2015, p. 70.

^{Murakami N.} 10 Hiseikikoyo tsuini 4-wari ni (40% underemployment) (in Japanese) - http://www.nippon.com/ja/features/h00133/

^{Miyamoto T.} 11 Nihon-gata fukushi kokka no mirai wa? (The future of the Japanese-style welfare state?) - http://www.nippon.com/ja/in-depth/а04203/

^{Ribault Th.} 12 Op. cit.

^{Tokuhiro Y.} 13 Marriage in Contemporary Japan. Routledge. 2010.

¹⁴ См. например: Kariya T., Rosenbaum J. Stratified incentives and life course behaviors. In: Handbook of the Life Course, eds. J. Mortimer and Shanahan M. N.Y.: Springer. 2003, p. 51 - 78; Genda Y. A Nagging Sense of Job Insecurity: The New Reality Facing Japanese Youth. Tokyo: International House Press. 2005.

^Baby-boom 15-a compensatory increase in the birth rate in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The last time a stable increase in the number of newborns up to 2 million per year was recorded in Japan in the 70s of the last century during the "second baby boom" period. However, in 1984, these figures plummeted to 1.5 million, and by 2005 they had dropped to 1.1 million.

¹⁶ The basic pension in Japan covers the entire population and is set each year in a fixed amount, which is increased in accordance with the price increase of the previous year. It is prescribed at the age of 65. At the same time, there is a flexible scheme that allows you to retire from the age of 60, but in this case, citizens receive it in a reduced (by 25%) amount. For those who continue to work after the age of 65, the pension increases annually. By the age of 70, the pension increases by 25%. The average pension in Japan reaches 60% of earnings.

^{Kawase A., Ogura S.} 17 Macroeconomic Impact and Public Finance Perspectives on the Ageing Society. In: Coulmas F., Conrad H., Schad-Seifert A., and Vogt G., Eds. The Demographic Challenge A Handbook about Japan, eds. Leiden: Brill. 2008, p. 841.

¹⁸ Evaluation of the National Institute of Population and Social Insurance. TheNikkei, January 25, 2014-Russia and the world.., p. 69.

^{Zhilina L. V.} 19 Molodezhi Yapanii: aspira-tions and orientiry [Youth of Japan: aspirations and guidelines]. 2016. N 1. с. 67 - 68. (Zhilina L.V. 2016. Molodezh Yaponii: ustremleniya i orientiry // Aziya i Afrika segodnya. N 1) (in Russian)

^{Murakami N.} 20 Op. cit.

^{Miller K.K.} 21 40,3% of Japanese youth depend on parents for income: survey // Japan Today - http://www.japan-today.com/category/national/view/40 - 3-of-japanese-youth-depend-on-parents-for-income-survey

²² См. например: Weathers C. Changing white collar workplaces and female temporary workers in Japan // Social Science Japan Journal. 2001, 4(2), p. 201 - 218; Gottfried H. Pathways to economic security: gender and nonstandard employment in contemporary // Social Indicators Research. 88, 2008, p. 179 - 196; Genda Y. Op. cit.

^{Yamada M.} 23 The young and the hopeless. In Reimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future that Works, ed. McKinsey and Company (San Francisco: VIZ Media). 2011, p. 176 - 180.

^{Kariya T.} 24 Credential inflation and employment in 'universal' higher education: Enrolment, expansion, and (in)equity via privatisation in Japan. J. Educ. Work, 24, 2011, p. 69 - 94.

^{Kariya T., Rosenbaum J.} 25 Op. cit., p. 51 - 78.

^{Ckiavacci D.} 26 From Class Struggle to General Middle-Class Society to Divided Society: Societal Model of Inequality in Postwar Japan // Social Science Japan Journal. 2008. Vol. 11, N 1, p. 21.

^{Genda Y.} 27 Nihon no koyo wa korekara do naru no ka? (What will the future hold for employment in Japan?) http://www.nippon.com/ja/currents/d00151/

²⁸ Russia and the World, p. 67.

^{Murakami N.} 29 Op. cit.

^{Zhilina L. V.} 30 Japanese Universities: facing Globalization / / Asia and Africa Today. 2015. N 3, p. 21. (Zhilina L. V. 2015. Yaponskiye universitety: litsom k globalizatsii // Aziya i Afrika segodnya. N 3) (in Russian)

^{Kosugi R.} 31 Escape from Work: Freelancing Youth and the Challenge to Corporate Japan // International Journal of Japanese Sociology. 2010. 19(1), p. 142 - 144.

³² This statement is attributed to Albert Jay Nock (13.10.1870-19.08.1945), an American libertarian anarchist, educator, and social critic of the early to mid-twentieth century. The Noc criticized those who believed that state intervention in the economy would only be temporary, rightly noting that nothing is more permanent than temporary.

Permanent link to this publication: