Insight: Second jobs, once rare in Japan, are reshaping attitudes about work
08/06/2018 01:00
* Workers hunt for more income as salaries stay flat
* Japan's lifetime employment at crossroads
* Labour shortages prompt firms to offer flexible workplaces
* But some raise concerns it will encourage dangerous
overwork
By Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO, June 8 (Reuters) - Kazuhiro Hasegawa has been driving
a taxi in Tokyo for three years. It's a job he enjoys, despite
18-hour shifts.
But recently, he said, it has not been enough to make ends
meet.
The 4.5 million-4.8 million yen ($41,110-$43,850) a year he
makes from his primary job is far short of what he needs to
cover a mortgage and university for his son, Hasegawa said.
"I have no choice but to work two jobs, as income is
unstable," said Hasegawa, 51, who earns several thousand yen a
month from a side job shooting and editing videos for
businesses. "There's no rest. I try to avoid being short of
sleep as that would cause trouble driving a taxi."
Japanese workers like Hasegawa are signing up for second
jobs in record numbers to earn extra cash as wages stagnate,
stirring hopes of a rise in consumer spending but adding to
fears of overwork in a society notorious for long hours.
Facing a labour crunch, many companies welcome the influx of
part-time workers. And the government has loosened rules that
banned or discouraged employees from taking second jobs.
The result is that a record 7.44 million Japanese will work
at least two jobs this year - or about 11 percent of the
workforce - up from 5.33 million in 2015, according to Lancers
Inc, which helps freelancers find jobs.
That lags behind countries like the U.S., which have been
embracing the "gig economy" for longer. About 20 percent of the
U.S. workforce had second jobs in 2017, data show.
The shift in Japan aligns with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's
goal of creating a workforce that can adapt to economic changes
and offer more individual freedom, which he says will promote
growth.
Indeed, people working two jobs will contribute an estimated
7.8 trillion yen to the economy, Lancers data showed.
But there is a dark side.
Japanese workers need to put in roughly 11 percent more
hours than they did in 1997 to make the same salary. In the
meantime, Tokyo's annual cost of living for an average household
is about $3,300 a month, government data shows, a 6 percent
decrease from 1997.
Working two or three jobs to make ends meet undercuts the
government's "work-style reform" efforts, including proposed
caps on overtime in response to cases of "karoshi," literally
death by overwork.
"It could raise the risk that one person ends up working
over 100 hours (of overtime) by assuming 50-hour jobs at two
firms," said Kotaro Kurashige, an attorney of Anzai Law Office,
who represents management in labour disputes.
"What the government is trying to do is full of
inconsistencies," he said. "Making up for cuts in overtime pay
by assuming side jobs elsewhere is like putting the cart before
the horse."
LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT
The emerging trend highlights the decline of Japan's
lifetime employment system, in which workers in the decades
after World War Two were guaranteed job security in exchange for
devotion to their employers.
Such positions are much rarer these days. A large number of
workers taking second jobs would traditionally be nearing
retirement age; nearly half of Japanese workers with two jobs
are older than 50, according to Lancers.
"There's no such thing as lifetime employment anymore," said
Masaki Shimizu, 32, who on top of his regular job at internet
start-up En Factory Inc, runs a coffee shop where patrons can
pet live hedgehogs and has two other side jobs.
"I need these side jobs to master new skills and expand my
own strengths," Shimizu said.
Natsuko Anastasia Ariyama, 25, said she earned about 200,000
yen a month from her full-time job as a university staffer and
an additional 20,000 yen from a side job as a writer and
translator. She does not get overtime pay, nor has she gotten a
raise.
"I have started doing a second job last year to earn
spending money," she said, adding that the extra work gives her
a sense of security as well.
ATTRACTING TALENT
Japanese companies have traditionally demanded that their
workers be fully committed to their employers.
But more are softening their views on the subject, including
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co 4527.T , SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T ,
photocopier maker Konica Minolta Inc 4902.T and Shinsei Bank
Ltd 8303.T .
Diaper maker Unicharm Corp 8113.T in April started letting
its 1,500 full-time employees hold second jobs. The decision was
made partly to lure workers amid a labour shortage and to
encourage current employees to acquire new knowledge and skills.
"We judged that benefits from side jobs outweigh potential
risks such as overwork, leakage of information and brain drain,"
said Yukinari Watanabe, a senior human resources manager of
Unicharm.
So far only one employee, a man in his 50s, has responded,
asking to become a basketball coach for middle and high school
students.
"We need to be a company that will attract capable workers,"
Watanabe said. "We also feel that workers need to acquire skills
that can be used anywhere as you never know what may happen in
this era of uncertainty."
NEW RULES
After Abe called for more labour mobility, the government
has tried to clear the way for companies to allow side jobs.
In January, the labour ministry removed a rule banning
second jobs without an employer's permission. Now workers must
only inform their employer before taking on another job.
But recent cases of people working themselves to death have
also led Abe's government to propose labour reforms such as a
cap on overtime of 100 hours per month.
Many workers count on overtime pay, however, and caps would
reduce that income, said Hisashi Yamada, research director at
Japan Research Institute.
So as long as people can skirt that by taking additional
jobs, the trend of working for more than one company will
probably continue, Yamada said.
But if it spreads workers too thin, it could erode Japanese
employment culture, Yamada said.
"Many Japanese firms still want employees to focus on their
main job, so Japan won't turn into a country like America right
away, where gig economy jobs are widely available," he said.
($1 = 109.4600 yen)
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto
Editing by Malcolm Foster and Gerry Doyle)
((tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1829;
Reuters Messaging:
tetsushi.kajimoto.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))