SUMMARY OF THE 8TH QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY
ON WORK AND LIFE OF WORKERS
Ⅰ Outline of Survey
1. Purpose of Survey
This survey aims to clarify the trends in economy, employment, income, and consumption, and to obtain the basic data for considering policy issues by identifying workers' awareness concerning their job and life.
2. Subject of Survey
Based on the sex and age distribution of employees, 900 private enterprise employees in their twenties to fifties living in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area and Kansai Area were selected from the monitors of INTAGE, Inc. The number of valid respondents in this survey is 760.
3. Period of Survey
From October 8-18, 2004
Ⅱ Outline of Survey Results
1. Regular survey items
○ Assessment of Business Conditions D.I.
{<Improved (improving)> － <Worsened (worsening)>} continues to remain positive, both at present and in prospect. The gap between them is reducing. (Chart 1)
○ Household Consumption D.I.
{<Increased (increasing)> －<Decreased (decreasing)>} continues to rise both at present and in prospect. (Chart 2)
○ Wage Income D.I.
{<Increased (increasing)> － <Decreased (decreasing)>} is rising, however, both at present and in prospect, it is still negative. (Chart 3)
○ Assessment of Commodity Prices D.I.
{<Rose (rising)> － <Fell ( falling)>} continues to rise both at present and in prospect, even after the deflation trend had changed to a positive. (Chart 4)
○ As the fear of unemployment trends downward, one out of every five (18.9%) has a fear of unemployment. (Chart 5)
○ If unemployed, about two thirds (65.8%) of the respondents feel it difficult to find a new job equivalent to the previous one. (Chart 6)
○ As self-protective measures against employment uncertainty, about 40% (38.9%) reduced their household expenditures. (Chart 7)
○ At the workplace, a little less than 40% (39.1%) take protective measures against worsened economic conditions or adjust personnel employment. As to specific measures against worsened economic conditions (multiple responses), "Reduced personnel" or "Curtailed employment" are decreasing and personnel management trends are changing. (Chart 8)
○ Regarding changes in workplace (multiple responses), "New wage system with possible wage reduction" still amounts to over 30% (36.3%). (Chart 9)
2. The 8th Survey - Special survey items: Working Hours and Voting Behavior in this year's House of Councillors Election
○ <Unpaid overtime work done> (The percentage of respondents, excluding those who answered "Paid in full," "Don't know" and "No response" from the total) amounts to 36.8%.
"Paid in full" falls just short of 50% (48.6%). (Chart 10)
○ Regarding how to decide overtime hours to be paid for, management applies rules of thumb such as "According to the maximum overtime hours set beforehand" (68.6%) or "Superiors make adjustments on the basis of self-declared hours or time cards" (56.0%), and there still remain many cases of unpaid overtime. (Chart 11)
○ In the past one year, efforts to reduce unpaid overtime are on the larger part "not progressing" ( 33.4%) and only "progressing" on a smaller scale (18.0%). (Chart 12)
○ In workplaces where efforts are progressing to reduce unpaid overtime, the ratio of "unpaid overtime" is lower. (Chart 13)
○ In this year's House of Councillors election, soliciting to vote for a specific party or a candidate was made by "None" ( 55.1%) in more than half cases. Of labor union members, "No soliciting" (50.0%) amounts to half, followed by "Soliciting by the labor union" with a ratio of over 20% (22.8%). (Chart 14)
○ Regarding the pre-election day attitudes of those who did not vote in this year's House of Councillors election, "Intended to vote" (39.5%) has the highest rate, followed by "No intention to vote at all" (34.3%). As to reasons for abstention from voting in the "No intention to vote at all" group, "No candidate or party is preferable enough to vote for," and "Not interested in politics or elections" were popular responses. (Chart 15)
