What is Japanese labour law ?

Ratio of workers to retirees in 1995: 2.6 to 1. Expected ratio of workers to retirees in 2050: 1.5 to 1.

the dispatched worker has one of the 26 types of listed special skills

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest working career belonged to Shihechiyo Izumi who began working and loading animals at a sugar mill in 1872 and retired as a sugar cane farmer in 1970 at the age of 105, after working for 98 years.

the worker is needed for additional business of a limitted duration, or an employee taking maternity or child care leave needs to be replaced.

There are labor shortages in agriculture, fishing, factories, restaurant, nursing homes, construction and forestry. The labor shortage is expected to get worse as more Japanese baby boomers retire. They began retiring en masse in 2007

Administrative guidance nevertheless advises against but does not prohibits the dispatching of a worker to the same post for longer than three years.

Work week: 46.5 hours, compared to 40.3 hours in France and 55.1 hours in South Korea.

A dispatched worker can report any violation of the WDL to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Art. 49). However, his/her legal protection is comparatively weak.

Japan used to have a 44-hour work (8 hours on weekdays, plus 4 hours on Saturday), the longest of leading industrialized nations. These days many workers have Saturday off but a lot still work on that day

For example, there is no obligation to enroll the worker in a social and labour insurance program. Privacy is nonetheless secured considerably in the WDL (Arts. 24-26).

The average full-time Japanese worker worked 2033 hours in 2007, compared to 1,912 hours in 1996 and 2,470 on 1988

Part-time work is governed by the Part Time Work Law (PTWL) which came into force 18 June 1993.

Many workers work overtime and receive no extra payment. Even though many workers are promised a three week holiday many people don't take all of the time they are promosed.

The average full-time Japanese worker worked 2033 hours in 2007, compared to 1,912 hours in 1996 and 2,470 on 1988

In the year 2000, 14.7% of all employees worked part-time. Most of them (91.8%) were women.

According to one survey the average worker in Japan gets 11 days of paid vacation and 14 holidays, compared to 30 days of paid vacation and 10 holidays in Germany, 27 vacation days and 11 holidays in Sweden, 25 vacation days and 10 holidays in France, 27 vacation days and 8 holidays in Britain, 12 vacation days and 11 holidays in the United States.

In 2007, the average number of annual paid holidays was 17.7 days, a record low. On average employees took 46.6 percent of their paid holidays. This rate has steadily been declining since a peak of 56.1 percent of paid holidays in 1993.

The number is increasing (Source: Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunication).Part-time workers are defined as workers whose scheduled working hours per week are shorter than those of regular employees in the same workplace .

These figures reflect 1) the difficulty that workers have using their paid holidays; 2) the fact they have so much work they need vacation time to do it; and 3) the difficulty of finding people to take their place while they on vacation.

In 1998, on average, workers were entitled to take 17.5 days off from work but only took 9.1 days. In 1980 they took 61.1 percent of their vacation time. By contrast the French and Germans take all of six weeks of vacation they are allowed. Americans take three quarters of the 17 days they are allowed.

De facto, also quasi part-time workers exist. They are part-time workers only in name and in law but work long hours.

More and more workers are choosing to work less time, even it means less money, to spend more time with their families, attend graduate school classes and pursue interests outside of work.

More and more workers are choosing to work less time, even it means less money, to spend more time with their families, attend graduate school classes and pursue interests outside of work.

Part-time workers are considered to be non regular workers, like the fixed term contractors.

A 2008 Labor Ministry survey revealed that 28.9 percent of businesses had shorter working hours than before.