Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, who pledged to work, work, work, work, work when she took Japan’s top job, is behind a proposal to ease restrictions on overtime. However, a recent survey found that only one in ten employees wants longer hours.
As part of its work-style reform initiative, originally launched in 2019, Japan’s government introduced a monthly cap on overtime of 45 hours to counter the problem of karōshi (death from overwork). However, last year, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party under Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae proposed a new reform that would ease some of those regulations, based on the idea that they are preventing those who want to work more from doing so. The proposed changes are also meant to address the current labor shortages in Japan.
Five years have passed since the implementation of work-style reform legislation, and last October a comprehensive survey of the laws was conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare targeting 3,000 workers nationwide.
According to the results, only 10.5% said they wanted their working hours to increase, either substantially or slightly, as compared to the 30% who would prefer a decrease. A further 59.5% were content with their current working hours.
Among people who wanted to increase their working hours, the most common reasons listed were the following: “to earn more money” (41.6%), “to work at my own pace” (19.7%), and “can’t make ends meet without overtime pay”...
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