288,000 non-regular jobs lost in Japan

A labor ministry survey shows that more than 288,000 non-regular workers in Japan lost jobs or will lose them in the 2 years through September.

That figure includes non-regular workers whose contracts were terminated, expired without renewal, or will expire as of August 18th. The survey covers the period starting October 2008, when the employment situation started to deteriorate rapidly.

The jobless total of over 288,000 marks an increase of about 3,100 from July.

About 150,000 of these workers were dispatched by temporary staff agencies and almost 70,000 were seasonal workers. Contract workers accounted for about 22,000.
By prefecture, Aichi had the largest number of non-regular job losses with about 46,000, followed by Tokyo with over 17,000, and Nagano with more than 11,000.

The ministry tracked down 137,000 of the laid-off workers and found only about 65 percent of them had found new jobs.