The history of casual labor in Japan

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Equal status of part-time, full-time staff seen as key
By Asako Murakami, The Japan Times, Sunday 18 May 2002. Japan is looking to the Netherlands, which has successfully implemented a number of work sharing programs, for ways to deal with its record levels of unemployment.
Give ‘irregular’ workers a fair shake
The Japan Times, editorial, 28 February 2004. A wide gap exists in wages and other conditions of employment between regular workers and part-timers and temporaries. The gap continues to widen. To correct the disparity, fair rules of employment need to be established for irregular staff.
Part-timers seek some respect; unions step up
By Akemi Nakamura, The Japan Times, Tuesday 9 March 2004. Salary and other working conditions are inferior for part timers. To improve their conditions, an increasing number of part-time workers, mostly women, have joined unions in recent years.
Curse of part-time work shatters Japan's middle-class dreams
AFP, Asia News, Sunday 6 February 2005. After a decade of corporate restructuring, a third of Japan's workforce is now in part-time or contract jobs, a trend policy makers worry will erode contributions to the social safety net and further discourage people from having children in a rapidly ageing society.