Table 1: Employment of men aged 45-49 by firm size, 2000 (%s)
men aged 45-49
100
3
2
11
84
100
13
15
24
28
24
29
19
23
all
in the agricultural sector
non agricultural self-employed
in the government sector
private sector employees
in a firm with <10 employees
in a firm with <30 employees
in a firm with >499 employees
in a firm with >1000 employees
Source: Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau, (2000a), Report
on the Special Survey of the Labour Force, February 2000 (Labour Force Series
No. 65); own calculations.
Table 2: Characteristics of older male employment, 2000 (%s)
all ages
aged 55-64 aged 65
and over
participation rate
76
84
33
72
78
26
5
6
31
construction
14
16
14
retailing
19
17
19
agric, construction or retailing
37
39
64
self-employed
76
85
86
family worker
12
3
10
part-time
34
30
49
3
6
10
self-employed
11
18
44
family worker
1
*
4
part-time
6
5
15
dispatched worker
3
7
15
temporary or daily
6
7
24
5.2
7.1
3.7
employment rate
of which, working in
agriculture
in agricultural sector
in retailing
self-employed or family worker
in non-agricultural sector
unemployment rate
Source: Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau, Report on the Special
Survey of the Labour Force, February 2000 (Labour Force Series No. 65), and .Annual
Report on the Labour Force Survey: 2000; own calculations.
Table 3: Major companies announcing/implementing early retirement plans:
press announcements since 1999
Company
Arabian Oil
Sector
Oil Refining
Dainippon ink
Chemicals
Fujisawa
Pharmaceutical
Co., Ltd
Japan Energy
Corp
Date
Announced Mar
2000
2000-2001
Window open
end Nov 04 to
mid Jan 05
Showa Shell
Oil Refining
and
Manufacturing
Oil Refining
Isuzu
Mazda (of Ford)
Motors
Motors
Nissan (of
Renault)
Anritsu
Motors
Electronics
May 2002
Fujitsu
Electronics
Summer 2001
Hitachi
Matsushita
(Panasonic)
Electronics
Electrical/
Electronics
Spring 1999
Mar 2000-2001
and Jan 2005
Mitsubishi
Electrical Co
Sega
Electonics
Over 2000-2001
Electronics
Toshiba
Electronics
first half year
1999
August 2001
Kawasaki
Heavy
Engineering/
Steel
Steel
Steel
Tobacco
Nippon Steel
NKK
Japan Tobacco
Additional details
716 employees, of which 218 were from
subsidiaries, applied, part of preparation of merger
with Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd to form
Astellas Pharma Inc
From 20002003
From 19992001
Over 2000-2001
Mar 2000
From mid 2000
Also transfers to affiliates
Plant closures and losses. 2210 early retirements (8% of
labour force) plan offered to all over 40 with at least 10
years service
Plans to cut 3-5% of labour force each year. Renault has
early retirement programme for all aged 57+ in France
Offered to regular employees aged from 45 to 59, with
at least 10 years of service, results 312 leavers
(including 57 employees dispatched to other companies)
Voluntary early retirement offered to all aged 45 and
over in Japan. Part of plan to cut global workforce by
21%
Repeated programmes in subsequent years.
Seeking 5,000 early retirements as part of plan to cut
workforce by 13000. Also making sub-contractors
more cost efficient. Further 3000 early retirements
sought as of in 2005
Part of 10% cut in labour force
Voluntary early retirement for people over 40, with
severance payment of 2½ years pay. Expected cost of
¥60bn. Part of 10% cut in workforce.
In merger talks with NKK (see below)
1999-2000
1999 and again
2003-2004
In merger talks with Kawasaki
Financial year 1999-00, cutting 10% of labour force at
home and similar proportion abroad; 2003-4 workforce
reduction of 25% including early retirement offered to
employees aged 40-59 with min 15 years service; take
up by 5800 of eligible 12000 (had expected only 3500)
Kirin
Brewing
Snow Brand Milk
JAL
NTT
Food Processing
Air Transport
Telecommunications
From 19992001
2000
Spring 2000
Sept 2000
onwards
Daiei
Kanematsu
Retailing
General Trading
House
Department
Store Group
Retailing
1999-2000
Announced mid
1999
Reported Oct
2004
Jan 2001
Seiyu (38%
owned by Wall
Mart)
Supermarket
Chain
Reported Dec
2003
Store closures. Requires bank loans to cover early
retirement costs
Voluntary early retirement programme as part of plan to
reduce staff by 1613 (or approx one fifth)
Chiyoda and DaiTokyo
Nikko Securities
Insurance
Spring 2000
As part of merger
Financial
Services
Banking
Education
1998-2000
Open to employees aged 40+
1999-2000
Reported Mar
2001
Falling student numbers
Mitsukoshi Ltd
Mycal
Sanawa
various private
junior colleges
Also transfers to affiliates
Part of repercussions of food poisoning case
6500 volunteers on top of 21,000 job cuts already
planned (cutting 17% of workforce). Offering all
employees aged 47-60 10 months basic pay plus a
retirement allowance
Sold businesses to cover early retirement costs
Major restructuring forced by banks
Seeking voluntary early retirement of 800 workers
over 40 years old
Source: Financial Times search “Top World Sources” plus Google search Japan + “early retirement”
Table 4: Share of firms reporting early retirements by sector and size
all industries
manufacturing
financial services
5000+ employees
1000-4999 employees
300-999 employees
100-299 employees
30-99 employees
2000
2.1
2.8
6.3
13.9
8.1
5.1
2.6
1.5
2001
3.7
6.3
10.6
17.6
13.9
6.0
5.5
2.6
2002
4.8
6.7
10.8
19.5
17.3
9.7
6.7
3.3
Source: Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau, Survey on employment
management.
Chart 1: Employment rates for older men, 2000 (%s)
Source: OECD.
Chart 2: Employment and pension receipt amongst older men
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
60
61
62
63
64
Source: Social Insurance Agency, Annual Operational Report FY 2000.
Note: Includes people whose pension is totally suspended – up to one quarter
Chart 3: Share of firms reporting layoffs, transfers or early retirements
14
12
10
%
8
6
4
2
1993Q4
1994Q1
1994Q2
1994Q3
1994Q4
1995Q1
1995Q2
1995Q3
1995Q4
1996Q1
1996Q2
1996Q3
1996Q4
1997Q1
1997Q2
1997Q3
1997Q4
1998Q1
1998Q2
1998Q3
1998Q4
1999Q1
1999Q2
1999Q3
1999Q4
2000Q1
2000Q2
2000Q3
2000Q4
2001Q1
2001Q2
2001Q3
2001Q4
2002Q1
2002Q2
2002Q3
2002Q4
2003Q1
2003Q2
2003Q3
0
calender quarters
manufacturing - transfers (shukko)
manufacturing - layoff
manufacturing - early retirement
unemployment rate
Source: Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau, Survey on Labour Economy Trends, quarterly
(http://wwwdbtk.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/kouhyo/data-rou15/jikei/jikeiretu-02.xls), OECD (standardised unemployment rates).
Chart 4: Trends in employment rates and unemployment rates
7.5
7.0
85
6.5
75
6.0
65
5.5
5.0
55
4.5
45
4.0
35
3.5
25
3.0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
unemployment rate (%)
employment rate
(%) males
95
employment rate 55-59
employment rate 60-64
employment rate 65+
unemployment rate (all ages, both sexes)
unemployment rate men 55-64
Source: Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau, Annual Report on the Labour Force Survey: 2003.
Chart 5: Trends in suicide by older men (number per 100,000)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
men all ages
men 45-49
men 50-54
men 55-59
men 60-64
men 65-69
20
03
20
00
19
95
19
90
0
women all ages
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Suicide Statistics; Management and Co-ordination Agency, Statistics Bureau,
Annual Report on the Labour Force Survey: 2003.
Chart 2: Chart 6: Employers' intentions with respect to modifying wage systems
keeping seniorty system
balancing skills and results
and seniority
adding more emphasis to
skills and results
concentrating on skills and
results
emphsising only skills and
results
0
10
20
30
% (all = 100)
maagerial occups
Source: JIL, 2000.
other employees
40
50