派遣切り拡大の衝撃―雇用を立て直す契機に

2009/1/10

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 9(IHT/Asahi: January 10,2009)

EDITORIAL: Plight of temp workers

派遣切り拡大の衝撃―雇用を立て直す契機に

Amid an alarming surge in the number of dispatched and other temporary workers who lost their jobs and places to live, the Diet has started considering a raft of key economic measures. They include a second supplementary budget plan for the current fiscal year that would finance steps to improve the employment situation.

　仕事も住まいも失った派遣労働者が増え続ける中で、雇用対策を盛り込んだ第２次補正予算案などをめぐる国会論戦が始まった。 

The government and the Diet should act swiftly to take every possible measure to provide relief for dismissed workers and help them find new jobs.

　失業した人たちの生活をどう支え、どんな仕事につなげていくか。できる限りの手だてを急がねばならない。 

Besides short-term responses, one key policy challenge facing lawmakers is to figure out longer-term solutions to the faltering employment structure that has led to growing job insecurity in recent years.

　問題は、こうした短期の対策に加えて、不安定な雇用を生み出す今の仕組み、「働き方」のありようを中・長期的にどう考えるかだ。 

Situation beyond expectation

■政府が想定せぬ事態 

The use of dispatch workers for manufacturing jobs has emerged as the central topic for Diet debate on the deteriorating job front.

　にわかに焦点となってきたのが、製造業への派遣労働を巡る問題だ。 

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has predicted that at least 85,000 nonregular workers will lose their jobs by the end of March, with dispatch workers at manufacturing factories accounting for two-thirds of the total. Factory operations are sensitive to changes in economic conditions. The global recession has hit the most vulnerable sector of the work force particularly hard.

　厚生労働省は３月末までに、少なくとも８万５千人の非正社員が職を失うとみているが、その３分の２が製造業で働く派遣労働者だ。工場の稼働は景気変動の影響を受けやすい。最も弱い立場の人々を世界不況が直撃した。 

Initially, temp staff were limited to specialist jobs like interpreters. But the market began to explode in the late 1990s. In the ever-tough business environment, demand for dispatch workers grew quickly. This is because temp staff are hired only when they are needed. At the time, companies were struggling against intensifying international competition and a domestic economic slump following the burst of asset-inflated economic growth.

　当初は通訳のような専門的な仕事に限られていた派遣という働き方が一気に広がったのは９０年代後半。国際競争の荒波とバブル崩壊後の不況が重なった時期に、企業は必要な時だけ雇える働き手をほしがった。

In response, the government loosened its regulations on dispatch hiring under the slogan of promoting "diverse work styles."

「多様な働き方」の名のもとに規制は緩められた。 

The trend was accelerated by the deregulation drive spearheaded by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Five years ago, the government lifted its ban on the use of dispatched workers for manufacturing work.

　その流れを加速したのが小泉政権である。そして５年前に製造業への派遣が解禁された。 

Debate on this picked up steam after the nation's unemployment rate hit its highest postwar rate. Chikara Sakaguchi, who was then the labor minister, later said the move was aimed at creating jobs, no matter what kinds. "We expected these temporary workers to be funneled into full-time jobs when the economy recovered," he said.

　解禁が審議された当時は、失業率が戦後最悪の水準。厚生労働相だった坂口力氏は「とにかくどんな形でもいいから働く場をという考えだった。景気が回復すれば正社員に戻ると期待していた」と後に語っている。 

The jobless rate fell substantially as the economic situation improved in the years that followed. But the ranks of dispatch workers kept growing rapidly, belying the expectations of Sakaguchi and other policymakers. Companies replaced many of their full-time employees with dispatched and other temporary workers.

　失業率はその後、景気回復にも伴いかなり改善した。ただ、坂口氏の言葉とは逆に派遣で働く人々はその後も急速に増え続け、正社員からの置き換えが進んでしまった。

The Japanese corporate tradition of putting great value on job security began to fade as a growing number of companies introduced American-style management systems that focused on pursuing profits and serving the interests of shareholders.

社員を大事にする日本企業の価値観も、利益追求や株主重視という米国型経営に引っ張られて姿を変えた。 

Meanwhile, no serious efforts were made to develop a system to protect the well-being of workers. Various stresses created by these changes are now causing increasingly serious social ripples.

　一方で、肝心な働き手を守るしくみの整備は置き去りにされ、その結果生じた社会のひずみが一気に広がっている。 

Reconsider dispatch of factory workers

■製造業派遣の再検討を 

"The moment dispatch workers face termination of their work contracts, they lose not only their jobs but also find it hard to continue surviving," said Naoto Kan, acting president of the main opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), describing the dire situation of these workers in a Diet session on Thursday.

　「派遣を切られた途端に、単なる失業じゃなくて生活ができなくなる」 

　国会で民主党の菅直人代表代行は、現状の深刻さを強調した。

The opposition parties are now moving toward banning the dispatch of workers to manufacturing jobs. Yoichi Masuzoe, the minister of health, labor and welfare, has also said he is personally sympathetic to the proposal to tighten regulations on temporary work conditions.

野党は、製造業への派遣を禁じる方向で動き出している。舛添厚労相も個人的な見解と断りつつ規制に前向きだ。 

But the business community is opposed to this. Company managers say they need a flexible workforce to make quick labor adjustments in response to demand changes. They also claim flexible hiring is essential to surviving competition with rivals from low-wage countries. A sudden tightening of labor market regulations would rather reduce employment opportunities, they warn. All these arguments raise some important issues.

　経済界は反発する。繁閑に対応できる雇用の調整弁はほしい。賃金の低い国々と競うには、弾力性のある雇用が不可欠だ。急に規制強化をすれば、かえって雇用機会を減らす。そんな理屈だ。いずれも大切な論点ではある。 

The reality facing us makes it hard to deny that deregulation has gone too far and the use of basically vulnerable dispatch workers has spread to a much wider range of areas.

　しかし、目の前の現実を見れば、立場の弱い派遣という働き方をここまで広げたのは、やはり行き過ぎだったと言わざるをえない。 

Prime Minister Taro Aso has already stated that he believes manufacturing jobs should basically be full-time positions.

　製造業は常用雇用が望ましいと麻生首相も認めている。 

The ruling and opposition camps should start working together to figure out the best way to restrict temporary assignments to manufacturing tasks while taking measures to prevent a further spread of job losses among the nearly 500,000 dispatched workers at factories.

　製造業の現場で派遣として働く５０万人近い人々に失職の危機が拡大しないよう配慮しつつ、製造業派遣について規制する方向で、最良の策について与野党で検討を始めるべきだろう。 

We should take this opportunity to start a broader deliberation on the temporary work industry as a whole.

　これをきっかけに、派遣労働全般のあり方についても論議を深めたい。 

There is another policy challenge demanding a quick response.

　同時に取り組むべきことがある。 

The wave of layoffs of dispatched and other temporary workers triggered by the economic downturn is due purely to policy failures. While taking steps to promote employment mobility by allowing companies to increase their levels of nonregular workers, the government has failed to make serious efforts to develop a solid safety net that enables displaced workers to seek new jobs without worrying about their immediate livelihoods.

　解雇や派遣切りが、今ほど深刻な事態につながった原因は、非正社員を増やして雇用の流動化を進めながら、失業しても安心して次の職探しが出来るようなセーフティーネット（安全網）の整備を怠ってきたことだ。 

Steps to discourage easy dismissals

■使い捨てぬしくみに 

Generally, the safety net for nonregular workers, including seasonal workers with limited-time contracts, is far less dependable than that for permanent workers.

　たとえば、期間工なども含め非正社員として働く人々は、一般的に失業した時の安全網が正社員よりもろい。 

The employment insurance program, which provides unemployment benefits and job training for the jobless, has been available only for those who are expected to be on the payroll for a year or longer. The government plans to shorten to half a year the period of expected employment required for eligibility. Even so, dispatch workers who frequently switch jobs with very short-term contracts for periods like two or three months will still not be eligible.

　失業手当や職業訓練を受けられる雇用保険は、これまで１年以上雇われる見込みがなければ加入できない仕組みだった。政府は、この要件を半年に短縮する方針を打ち出したが、それでも２～３カ月の契約を繰り返す細切れ派遣の人には適用されない。 

To eliminate workers who slip through the safety net, the employment insurance program should, in principle, cover all nonregular workers. The system is meaningless unless it can support those with insufficient job security.

　安全網からこぼれる人をなくすには、まず非正社員を原則としてすべて雇用保険に入れることだ。立場が不安定な非正社員を支えられる仕組みでなければ意味がない。 

Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), has proposed the creation of a fund jointly financed by companies to help jobless workers to find housing and receive job training. Companies that want to use temporary workers should shoulder a fair share of the financial burden of providing livelihood relief to such people when they lose their jobs and support their efforts to find new jobs.

　日本経団連の御手洗冨士夫会長は、失業者の住宅確保や職業訓練の支援のために、企業が出資しあって基金を作る構想を示している。短期の働き手を活用したい企業は、その人たちが失業した時の生活保障や再就職支援に備えて応分の負担をすべきだろう。 

The gaps between full-time employees and nonregular workers in wages and other working conditions should also be narrowed. The principle of the same compensation for similar work should be adopted widely. In an effort to protect jobs, labor and management should have a serious discussion over work-sharing, which means all workers, including full-time employees, accept shorter working hours to avoid job cuts.

　非正社員と正社員との賃金や待遇の格差も縮めていかねばならない。同じような労働に同じ賃金を払うという考え方を広げていきたい。雇用を守るため、正社員も含めて働く時間を短くし、互いに仕事を分け合うワークシェアリングについても労使で議論を始めたい。 

The nation's workforce will shrink in coming years due to the twin problems of population aging and low birthrates. The central and local governments need to work with business circles to find effective ways to promote a shift of labor from areas facing a surplus due to social and economic changes to areas with a labor shortage, such as the nursing-care industry.

　少子高齢化で働き手が減っていく。世の中の変化で人手の余る分野から、不足する介護などへと働き手を移す方法も、政府や自治体、産業界が一体となって考えるときだ。 

Workers are also consumers. Low-wage employment that treats workers like disposable commodities ends up cramping consumer spending and will never help create strong domestic demand.

　働き手は、生活者であり消費者でもある。安い賃金で使い捨てといわれるような雇い方をしていれば結局、消費を冷え込ませ、力強い内需は生まれようがない。 

Reconsidering ways of working and improving the nation's employment structure will contribute to enhancing the fundamentals of the nation's economy. This is a perspective that should not be missing from the debate on policy efforts to improve the job picture.

　働き方を考え直し、雇用の仕組みをよりよいものに作り直すことは、日本経済を強くすることにもつながる。そんな視点を忘れたくない。