调查：日本工薪族加班仍太多
英国《金融时报》马里科•桑查塔(Mariko Sanchanta)东京报道
2006年11月28日 星期二
日本素以超时工作闻名的工薪族没有得到喘息之机，尽管该国正经历战后时间最长的经济复苏，拖欠超时工资的企业数量又创下了新高。
日本厚生劳动省表示，根据日本劳工标准组织(labour standards office)的多方面调查，在2005财年，拖欠超时工资逾100万日元（合8600美元）的日本企业达到创纪录的1524家。
JP摩根(JP Morgan)驻东京经济学家菅野雅明(Masaaki Kanno)表示：“日本有‘超时服务'的理念，这基本上意味着无偿工作。”
“如果老板在办公室，下级员工就会有留下来的压力。尽管人们超时工作，但我怀疑日本人是否有更多的产出。”
从上世纪90年代末开始，无偿超时工作的时间有所上升，从而延长了工作时间。
在日本长达10年的经济衰退中，企业通过削减人工成本及雇用兼职员工的方式，来应对需求持平或走软的状况，这意味着同样的工作量，要由数量下降了的全职雇员来承担。
厚生劳动省的一项调查发现，企业在2005财年拖欠超时工资233亿日元，较上年增加了7亿日元。以行业论，制造业企业所占比例最大，拖欠约67亿日元。拖欠1000万日元以上的企业有293家，拖欠超时工资最多的是一家制造业企业，共计23亿日元。
30来岁的男性超时工作问题尤为严重。官方数据显示，他们中有四分之一的人每周工作时间超过了60个小时，真实的数字则可能更高。
上周，数据显示日本经济已实现战后持续时间最长的增长，超过了近40年前创下的纪录。然后，利润的上升，没能带来工资的增加和消费需求的增长。
厚生劳动省2003年开始公布其调查结果，以回应被迫超时工作并出现健康问题员工的抱怨。
日本的经济奇迹造就了“过劳死”(Karoshi)一词，意思是“因过度工作而死”。同时，员工休年假的平均天数不足假期的一半，这一比例还在不断下降。
九州大学(Kyushu University)教授Susumu Noda在一份研究报告中写道：“没听说有法国那样的休假想法。对许多工人而言，暑期假日就是一周的休假，而对许多商务人士来说，那只是个长周末而已。”
译者/ 何黎
JAPANESE OVERTIME WORK – PAID LATE OR NEVER – HITS RECORD
By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Japan's notoriously overworked salarymen are receiving no respite, with the number of companies paying overtime in arrears reaching a record high despite the country's longest postwar economic recovery.
Following multiple inspections from Japan's labour standards office, the number of Japanese companies that paid Y1m ($8,600, �,600, £4,500) or more in overtime in arrears came to a record 1,524 in fiscal 2005, says the labour ministry.
“In Japan, there is the concept of ‘service overtime', which basically means working for free,” said Masaaki Kanno, economist at JP Morgan in Tokyo.
“If the boss is in the office there is pressure for junior employees to stay. Despite the hours, I doubt the Japanese are more productive.”
Since the late 1990s, unpaid overtime has risen, driving up the number of working hours.
During Japan's decade of economic malaise, companies responded to flat demand or worse by cutting labour costs and hiring part-time employees, meaning that fewer full-time employees were responsible for the same amount of work.
Companies in fiscal 2005 paid Y23.3bn in overtime in arrears, up Y700m on the year before, according to a survey by the labour ministry. By industry, manufacturers took the largest share at around Y6.7bn. Companies that paid Y10m or more in overtime in arrears totalled 293, while the largest payment for unpaid overtime was by a manufacturing company for Y2.3bn.
The problem of overwork is particularly severe among men in their 30s. About a quarter work more than 60 hours a week, according to official figures, though the real number may be higher.
Last week, data showed that Japan's economy has achieved its longest postwar growth period, surpassing the record set nearly 40 years ago. But higher profits have not fed into better wages and stronger consumer demand.
The labour ministry began publishing its findings in 2003 in response to complaints of employees forced to work overtime and developing health problems.
Karoshi, a word coined during Japan's economic miracle, means “death from overwork”. Meanwhile, the average worker uses less than half of his or her annual holiday and the rate is falling.
“The idea of a vacance as in France [is] unknown. For many workers, a summer holiday is a one-week vacation, while for many businessmen, it is a [long weekend],” Susumu Noda, professor at Kyushu University, wrote in a research paper
