Stimulating Japan's Private Sector And Alleviating The Karoshi Effect

Discuss about the Field of Study and Research Plan.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from AN-NAJAH University, Palestine where I undertook an academic research about maximum flow problem that involves finding a feasible flow through a single source, single-sink flow network that is maximum. I am a certified project management professor, thus well versed in the arena of research to conduct quality and statistically relevant research. The different courses I have taken including but not limited to data analysis, Microsoft project 2016 where I acquired the expert status, risk management, principles of valuation, project planning and management, risk management and valuation principles provide a good base necessary for great accomplishments in this study and beyond.

I have worked as a production team leader which mainly involved meeting with clients to establish their expectations and needs, manage the collection, integrity and distribution of required data for the project, prepare concepts and scripts for multimedia pieces, research, production plan and schedule for the project, oversee translation process and ensuring completeness and accuracy, coordinate and monitor daily activities, collect and analyze the feedback to provide insights to improve the team effectiveness and performance amongst many others. I am a team player and also good with people thus can arguably count on good information from sources. The aforementioned qualifications and experience equip me with the ability to effectively investigate this study both statistically and considering all the business/economic aspects.

Despite japan being the third largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, the economy has been stagnant in the past two decades. This can be attributed to low population growth and a greying demographic structure. In just 5 years Japan has lost over one million people which has it lose trillions in GDP. For economic growth in any given country, there must be substantial consumption and spending in that economy.  

This stagnation in the economy has led to many firms laying off full time salaried employees in favor of part-time in an attempt to cut their costs to be able to withstand the economic times. This has increased pressure on the working population. This mounting pressure has led to increased deaths from suicides, heart attacks and strokes to people as young as 24 years. Also the stagnation could be due to low FDI (foreign direct investment) in japan by foreign firms. A study on stimulation of Japan’s private sector and alleviation of the karoshi effect is paramount towards resuscitation of that economy. An advanced economy like Japan cannot be left to plunge to disaster while developing countries struggling to get their economies close to what Japan has.  Japan’s resuscitation could benefit countries such as Palestine which suffers from limited opportunities by providing foreign labor in the process countering its unemployment crisis.

Research Topic

Japan is a highly developed market oriented economy. It is the third largest by nominal GDP, and has one of the world’s heaviest government debt. Its national currency is the Japanese yen.  The Japanese economy has been in economic stagnation for over two decades since the 1990s bubble burst stagnation. After WW2, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida made rebuilding Japanese economy his objective. Corporations were directed to offer lifelong job securities to their workers in order to ensure their loyalty. This has seen people give more hours of overtime to work leading to a breakdown of social life amongst the working population. Japan is in what is commonly known as demographic time bomb. The overworked population is too busy and tired to spend what they earn which drives the economy down.

The overworked life leads to lower fertility rates leading to fewer kids (the fertility rate is now 1.41 children per woman down from 1950s 2.75 per woman). This leads to an aging nation with few young people and the old ones living longer. The government is laden with rising social security costs which are borne by the shrinking younger generation. The Japanese social security is biased towards supporting health and pension for the elderly neglecting the working age. According to Miura (2012), welfare is supported by a gendered dual system where males are offered benefits of employment while women are shunned for primary care givers.

For the Karoshi problem to be resolved the labor situation must be reassessed. Amongst other measures that can be relied upon to relieve the problem is attracting foreign labor. However, according to (Ducanes, 2015), japan is more accepting of highly skilled workers than their less skilled counterparts. They encourage the highly skilled who engage in professional services. Even these though are not allowed to bring their families with them (Fuess, 2003). The japan government is also not keen on ensuring they have access to their basic rights such as accident insurance, unemployment compensation, right to education, medical, security, and freedom from discrimination.

Foreign workers face a lot of challenges some of them being language barrier as almost everything is in japan. The Japanese society is also not open minded to accommodate foreigners whom they treat poorly.  The government unjustly requires all foreign workers aged between 20-29 to participate in any one of their 3 national pension schemes and contribute for 10 years before they can draw from them. This is highly unfair since the majority last for an average of 3 years. The foreign training intern program which was established to tap foreign student’s unskilled labor and train them in japans industries and firms Is failing due to workers’ exposure to poor working conditions, low wages and rampant human rights abuse and exploitation by Japanese firms, (Takemi,2016).

Research Plan

(Garcia and Gurat, 2003 p2-5); when social protection is extended indiscriminately, it ensures access to basic social and financial security and also improves human potential thus boosting the economy of the nation. To attract foreign talent japan needs to provide better and attractive packages as fewer foreigners choose to come to japan with increasing global competition for workers. Better employee package and work conditions would increase human capital inflow thus boosting its productivity.

Countries such as Palestine could play a significant role as it has a large population of highly educated and skilled youth and women who are unemployed. The high unemployment, approaching 30%, and high job insecurity can be attributed to the private sectors inability to generate enough jobs to keep up with the growing population. If Japan could source from Palestine, then the two nations will be better off.

The private sector is the other game changer for japan.  The government should provide an enabling environment in terms of sound policies stable governance and open trade policies. This will encourage more Japanese firms to invest in Japan as well as attract FDIs to attain its projected 35t Yens by 2020. To do this, the country needs to simplify and centralize their business registration procedure, cut cooperate tax to levels common in European and Asian economies, develop better internet infrastructure and favorable educational environment for expatriates’ children The government should improve its labor force through education and development of skills of the youth and foreign workers, increasing loans put forward at reasonable rates and accessible to the private sector for economic growth. The private sector will need to change workplace policies for conducive work environment for the employees, use new technologies and try new models. 

This study addresses the problem of economic growth stagnation as well as the karoshi problem in Japan. In this paper stimulation of the private sector is postulated to result in economic growth. Attracting foreign labor will not only help in economic growth but also play a bigger role in solving the karoshi problem. The study will seek to establish ways in which the private sector can be stimulated to development to realize economic growth. Development of the private sector comes with increased job opportunities thus need for foreign labor. This will necessitate Japan to restructure its labor environment to make it attractive to foreigners.

• To determine ways through which the private sector can be stimulated to grow and influence growth in the economy.
• To establish measures that can be adopted by Japan to attract foreign workers in Japan.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the Japanese government in ensuring economic growth.
• To understand the role influx of foreign labor in Japan plays in the development of the mother country, case of Palestine.

• What are the means through which the development of the private sector can be attained?
• What measures can Japan adopt to make it attractive to foreign workers?
• Have the measures adopted by the Japanese government been effective in stimulating economic growth?
• What effect does the influx of foreign workers in Japan have on their mother country's economy?

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Fuess, S. (2003). Immigration Policy and Highly Skilled Workers: The Case of Japan. Contemporary Economic Policy, 21(2), 243-257. Doi: 10.1093/cep/byg008.

Takemi, K. (2016). Japan's Global Health Strategy: Connecting Development and Security. Asia-Pacific Review, 23(1), 21-31. Doi: 10.1080/13439006.2016.1195956

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Wilson, D. (2017). Marx on Immigration: Workers, Wages, and Legal Status. Monthly Review, 68(9), 20. Doi: 10.14452/mr-068-09-2017-02_3.