Grasping the Reality of Today's Buraku
Towards a Post-Special-Measures Solution to the Buraku Problem
Part 5 (3)
This is a series of articles summarizing the report entitled, "Study of Actual Conditions of Dowa Districts towards a Solution of Dowa Problem," prepared by the local government of Osaka Prefecture in March, 2001 when the Law on Special Budgetary Measures Concerning Projects designated for Area Improvement became invalid. The report aimed at providing information for developing strategies in combating Buraku discrimination in the Post-Special-Measures era.
3. Salary, Company Size, Length of Service and Income
1) Salary
Table 6-12 shows forms of salary payments to employees.
| 6-12 | Survey this time | 1990 Survey | ||||||||
| male | female | male | female | |||||||
| monthly salary |
daily, but paid mon |
daily wage |
hourly wage |
monthly salary |
daily, but paid mon |
daily wage |
hourly wage |
monthly salary |
monthly salary |
|
| Total No. | 64.60% | 17.80% | 8.40% | 5.60% | 50.80% | 11.30% | 4.80% | 30.30% | 66.60% | 66.60% |
| 15-19 | 37.30% | 23.50% | 7.80% | 29.40% | 40.00% | 14.00% | 6.00% | 38.00% | 59.00% | 65.60% |
| 20-24 | 59.60% | 17.00% | 6.40% | 14.60% | 55.70% | 9.50% | 3.20% | 26.60% | 70.60% | 74.00% |
| 25-29 | 71.70% | 16.50% | 5.10% | 4.20% | 56.20% | 8.50% | 2.50% | 31.30% | 78.80% | 66.00% |
| 30-34 | 63.10% | 23.00% | 6.80% | 3.60% | 54.30% | 9.40% | 2.90% | 32.60% | 85.00% | 62.30% |
| 35-39 | 69.30% | 18.80% | 5.70% | 3.10% | 63.10% | 8.10% | 3.10% | 23.80% | 81.80% | 56.50% |
| 40-44 | 76.70% | 14.20% | 5.10% | 1.70% | 61.40% | 6.40% | 1.40% | 27.90% | 75.10% | 50.60% |
| 45-49 | 80.30% | 9.90% | 6.90% | 1.00% | 49.30% | 11.00% | 4.40% | 31.60% | 70.90% | 52.30% |
| 50-54 | 65.10% | 17.00% | 10.10% | 2.80% | 46.10% | 15.20% | 6.20% | 30.30% | 66.10% | 51.70% |
| 55-59 | 60.40% | 24.00% | 8.90% | 3.60% | 49.70% | 13.40% | 5.10% | 29.90% | 63.30% | 50.60% |
| 60-64 | 37.50% | 20.50% | 23.20% | 10.70% | 29.50% | 14.70% | 11.60% | 41.10% | 53.70% | 43.20% |
| 65-69 | 40.40% | 15.40% | 23.10% | 13.50% | 17.20% | 31.00% | 6.90% | 44.80% | 47.80% | 28.30% |
| 70 above | 50.00% | 16.70% | 12.50% | 12.50% | 19.40% | 22.60% | 25.80% | 16.10% | 42.00% | 34.80% |
As there is no comparable data available from the Government, the above table displays data by age group only for employees in Dowa areas. The present survey indicates that the age groups which have the highest percentage of monthly salary recipients are 40-45 for males and 35-39 for females. For those in their 20s and 30s, the percentages of those receiving monthly salaries are lower in the present survey than in the 1990 survey.
In other words, the tendency for the proportion of monthly salary recipients to increase in proportion with decreasing age groups is no longer apparent. For male employees in the 30 to 49 age groups, however, the proportion of monthly salary recipients increases as age decreases. The smaller proportion of monthly salary payees among younger age groups is attributable to two main factors: 1) the prolonged bad economy and 2) the outflow of young people with stable jobs from Dowa areas.
2) Company Size
Table 6-13 shows the proportion of employees from Dowa areas by company size.
| 6-13 | male | female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dowa area | Osaka | Dowa area | Osaka | |
| number | 1,850 | 2,386,000 | 1,473 | 1,448,000 |
| 1-4 | 9.20% | 7.00% | 10.30% | 8.80% |
| 5- 9 | 13.20% | 8.80% | 11.60% | 10.80% |
| 10- 19 | 12.20% | 9.30% | 11.50% | 10.40% |
| 20- 29 | 7.90% | 5.30% | 7.40% | 5.50% |
| 30 -49 | 6.80% | 6.30% | 10.40% | 6.40% |
| 50- 99 | 7.50% | 8.60% | 7.60% | 8.80% |
| 100- 299 | 8.60% | 12.60% | 10.90% | 11.90% |
| 300 -499 | 3.70% | 5.40% | 3.70% | 5.70% |
| 500-999 | 3.30% | 5.90% | 3.00% | 6.30% |
| over 1,000 | 7.60% | 20.60% | 7.80% | 16.70% |
| public agencies | 18.40% | 8.60% | 13.50% | 7.00% |
| unknown | 1.50% | 1.60% | 2.30% | 1.70% |
Note: 1997 "Basic Survey of Work Structure" by Osaka Prefecture
According to the table, the proportion of employees from Dowa areas is higher for both males and females in smaller business with less than 50 employees. This means that Dowa areas consist of high proportions of people who work at small companies.
In public agencies, the proportion of employees from Dowa areas is higher than those from Osaka Prefecture by 9.8 points and 6.5 points for males and females respectively.
In the table, conspicuous discrepancies can be seen between Dowa areas and Osaka Prefecture in businesses with more than 1,000 employees. However, it would be incorrect to infer that this tendency reflects the actual employment conditions in Dowa areas, since data for Osaka Prefecture (i.e. the 1997 Basic Survey of Work Structure) was extracted using a different method than that used in the present survey. The former represents all employees living in Osaka Prefecture, whereas the later represents all who live in Dowa areas. Employees of large companies generally tend to be transferred to offices in other prefectures, or face situations where their offices are located far from their Dowa areas, which leaves them with no choice but to move out of their area. The figures for Dowa areas in Table 6-13 do not reflect these tendencies.
3) Length of Service
Table 6-15 shows percentages of employees by length of service.
| 6-15 | Males | Females | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dowa areas | National | Dowa areas | National | |
| Total number | 2,365 | 39,508,000 | 1,763 | 27,495,000 |
| Less than 1 year | 13.00% | 8.40% | 19.10% | 14.90% |
| 1 - 3 years | 12.90% | 8.60% | 18.40% | 13.80% |
| 3 - 5 years | 9.60% | 9.10% | 11.60% | 12.60% |
| 5 - 10 years | 15.10% | 17.00% | 17.00% | 20.00% |
| 10 - 14 years | 13.20% | 12.40% | 11.30% | 11.50% |
| More than 15 years | 34.40% | 44.10% | 21.40% | 26.90% |
| Unknown | 1.70% | 0.40% | 1.20% | 0.30% |
Source: 1997 "Basic Survey of Work Structure" by Osaka Prefecture
According to the table, the length of service of employees from Dowa areas for both males and females is shorter than that seen in national figures. The percentage of those who have worked for less than 1 year, or for 1 to 3 years, is higher than the national average by more than 4 points for both males and females. At the same time, the percentage for those who have worked for more than 15 years is lower than the national average by 9.7 points and 5.5 points for males and females respectively.
The shorter length of service among those from Dowa area demonstrates the instability of employment conditions in Dowa areas.
4) Annual Income
Table 6-16 shows percentages of employees in Dowa areas by annual income in comparison with those from the 1990 survey
| 6-16 | Males | Females | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present survey | 1990 survey | Present survey | 1990 survey | |
| Total number | 2,393 | 24,037 | 1,796 | 16,712 |
| Less than 0.5 million | 4.80% | 2.60% | 14.90% | 15.90% |
| 0.5 - 1 million | 5.40% | 4.60% | 21.90% | 21.00% |
| 1-1.5 million | 8.70% | 8.70% | 16.40% | 16.60% |
| 1.5 ? 2 million | 6.10% | 12.00% | 9.80% | 11.40% |
| 2 ? 2.5 million | 11.00% | 13.00% | 9.60% | 7.70% |
| 2.5 - 3 million | 8.80% | 11.80% | 4.50% | 5.30% |
| 3 - 4 million | 15.40% | 16.40% | 6.50% | 6.50% |
| 4 - 5 million | 11.50% | 11.50% | 5.70% | 4.30% |
| 5 - 7 million | 13.80% | 8.80% | 5.40% | 2.50% |
| 7 - 10 million | 8.70% | 2.40% | 3.00% | 0.30% |
| More than 10 million | 2.50% | 1.00% | 0.10% | 0.20% |
| Unknown | 3.10% | 7.10% | 2.30% | 8.30% |
According to this table, the percentages for "more than 5 million" for males and "4 - 10 million" for females are higher than those in the 1990 survey. At the same time, the percentages for "less than 1.5 million" for both males and females are higher than or approaching those in the 1990 survey. Thus, the proportion of males with low incomes in Dowa area has increased to some extent.
<to be continued>
Buraku Liberation News is fully responsible for summarizing the Reports in this series.
Note (1) Some of the reports are available (Japanese version only) on the website of the Osaka
Prefectural Government: http://www.pref.osaka.jp/jinken/measure/tyosa/index.html
(2) Previous articles in this series can be found at http://blhrri.org/index_e.htm