March 11, 1999
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| March 11, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Japan Economy Companies face worst redundancy problem ever TOKYO - The percentage of companies faced with labor shortages minus the percentage of firms with an excess of manpower stood at minus 20 in February, according to a survey released Monday by the Labor Ministry. The result, down one point from the previous survey in November 1998, is the lowest since the ministry started conducting thesurvey in 1984. The poll covered companies in five industries - manufacturing, construction, service, transport/communications and wholesaleetail. The labor diffusion index for manufacturers slipped to minus 34, down 5 points. Construction firms saw their indexplunge 9 points to minus 25, while the figure for wholesalersetailers stood unchanged at minus 15. Manufacturers and construction companies had to deal withgrowing redundancy in their work forces amid slowingprivate-sector plant and equipment investment, the survey found. The index for transport/communications firms recovered tozero from minus 2. ''That's thanks largely to the expandingcellular phone market,'' said an Economic Planning Agencyofficial. Service firms also saw their index improve, climbing 5points to minus 1. The survey found that 33 percent of companies implemented laboradjustments in some form or another in October-December 1998,up 3 points. Some 34 percent are taking such measures in the currentJanuary-March quarter as well. The survey tracked 5,342 companies in early February,eliciting valid responses from 2,965. (Asia Pulse/Nikkei) | |||||||||
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