November 2004 No.133
Grasping the Reality of Today's Buraku
Towards a Post-Special-Measures Solution to the Buraku Problem
| 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. |
PART 5-(4) Employment
4. Unemployment Conditions
1) Job Seeking
Table 6-17 shows job seeking trends among unemployed people.
The proportion of people from Dowa districts who are actively seeking employment is higher than that in the national survey by 18.0 points for males and 4.9 points for females.
While not shown in table 6-17, the proportions of job seekers in Dowa districts in the age groups of 55 to 64 for males and 25 to 49 for females are greater than those in the national survey by between 0.1 and 8.7 points. For other age groups, the percentages of job seekers in Dowa districts are much higher than the national survey. There are significant gaps in the following age groups: males aged between 15 and 19 (39.2% for Dowa districts and 15.4% for the national survey), males aged between 20 and 24 (77.8% and 40.3%), males aged between 40 and 44 (85.4% and 70.8%), females aged between 15 and 19 (37.9% and 17.3%), females aged between 20 and 24 (67.0% and 49.2%), and females aged between 60 and 64 (40.3% and 24.5%).
Table 6-17 Desire to work among the unemployed
| male | female | |||
| Dowa district | National | Dowa district | National | |
| relevant number | 1,259 | 12,238,000 | 2,303 | 27,412,000 |
| Desire to be at work | 45.4% | 27.4% | 34.0% | 29.1% |
| seeking for jobs | 26.4% | 16.2% | 15.5% | 12.0% |
| not-seeking for jobs | 18.6% | 11.1% | 18.5% | 17.1% |
| unknown | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| No desire to be at work | 52.4% | 72.6% | 62.6% | 70.9% |
| Unknown | 2.2% | 0.0% | 3.4% | 0.0% |
for national data:
1997 "Basic Survey of Employment Structure"
* * * * *
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) Reasons for Seeking Employment
Table 6-18 shows reasons for seeking employment among those want to work.
| Male | Female | |||
| Dowa district | National | Dowa district | National | |
| Number of respondents | 571 | 3,351,000 | 784 | 7,982,000 |
| Unemployed | 20.70% | 17.20% | 6.30% | 4.30% |
| Completed school education | 1.10% | 1.90% | 0.90% | 0.70% |
| Want to earn income | 46.90% | 45.50% | 59.90% | 62.00% |
| Want to use knowledge and skills | 1.40% | 6.50% | 1.90% | 7.10% |
| Want to be part of society | 1.40% | 4.00% | 1.90% | 6.20% |
| Want to have a purpose in life | 6.80% | - | 10.10% | - |
| Want to be independent | 11.70% | - | 8.20% | - |
| Currently have spare time | 0.50% | 2.40% | 2.00% | 6.60% |
| Want to stay healthy | 7.00% | 16.00% | 6.30% | 8.30% |
| Other response | 1.80% | 6.20% | 2.20% | 4.80% |
| Unknown | 0.70% | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0.10% |
Source for national data: 1997 "Basic Survey of Employment Structure"
The present survey includes the two "Want to have a purpose in life" and "Want to be independent" responses that were not included in the national Basic Survey of Employment Structure, which makes it difficult to make a strict comparison between the two surveys. However, the most frequent response in both surveys was "Want to earn income" with the proportions for male and female Dowa respondents equal to those in the national survey. The proportions for "Currently have spare time" and "Want to stay healthy" are low for both male and female Dowa residents, with the latter a significant 9.0 points lower for males when compared with the national survey. In contrast, "Unemployed" was a frequent response in Dowa districts, with respective gaps of 9.0 points and 2.0 points for Dowa district males and females when compared with the national survey.
Although the relevant figures are displayed in the table, let us examine the "Unemployed" and "Want to earn income" responses by age group. In Dowa districts, the age groups with high proportions of people "Unemployed" respondents are males aged 30 to 34 (50.0% for Dowa districts and 42.2% for the national survey), males aged 55 to 59 (43.2% and 33.3%), females aged 45 to 49 (15.4% and 5.3%) and females aged 30 to 34 (11.4% and 3.0%). The groups most frequently responding with "Want to earn income" were males aged 15 to 19 (66.2% for Dowa districts and 75.0% for the national survey), males aged 20 to 24 (57.1% and 60.5%), males aged 50 to 54 (55.3% and 39.6%), females aged 25 to 29 (71.6% and 70.7%), females aged 35 to 39 (70.6% and 66.3%), and females aged 30 to 34 (70.0% and 70.7%). The percentages for Dowa male age groups of 15 to 19 and 20 to 24 and the female age group of 30 to 34 are lower than those for the same age groups in the national survey.
The "Want to have a purpose in life" response, which was included only in the survey for Dowa districts, was selected most frequently by groups aged over 60: from 60 to 64 (10.0% for males and 16.3% for females), from 65 to 69 (11.8% and 27.3%), and over 70 (16.7% and 21.7%). Among groups aged below 60, most did not pick up this response, except for the 25 to 29 male age group (8.6%) and the 40 to 44 female age group (13.2%.) Also, the "Want to be independent" response was most frequently picked by the male age groups of 40 to 44 (17.1%), over 70 (14.8%), 65 to 69 (14.5%), and 20 to 24 (14.3%), and the female age groups of 15 to 19 (14.9%), 40 to 44 (13.2%), and 50 to 54 (11.4%)
3) Desired Employment Type
Table 6-19 shows the types of employment desired by job seekers.
| Male | Female | |||
| Dowa district | National | Dowa district | National | |
| Total respondents | 571 | 3,351,000 | 784 | 7,982 |
| Want regular employment | 44.8% | 36.3% | 21.8% | 14.7% |
| Want to work part-time | 34.7% | 40.7% | 55.6% | 64.2% |
| Want to start own business | 10.3% | 6.5% | 4.0% | 2.6% |
| Want to help in family business | 1.8% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Want to work at home | 3.3% | 3.0% | 12.5% | 11.3% |
| Other | 3.7% | 11.9% | 4.0% | 5.7% |
| Unknown | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.1% |
According to the table, Dowa districts feature higher proportions of job seekers who want to either work on a regular basis or start their own businesses. For the "Want regular employment" response, Dowa district males and females surpass the national results by 8.5 points and 7.1 points respectively. For the "Want to start own business" response, Dowa district males and females surpass national results by 3.8 points and 1.4 points respectively. On the other hand, the proportions of job seekers in Dowa districts who want to work on a part-time basis are lower than national results by 6.0 points for males and 8.6 points for females.
Though not indicated in table 6-19, the percentage by age distribution for respondents who selected "Want regular employment" was 77.1% for Dowa districts and 71.4% for national results for the 25 to 29 male age group, 74.3% and 67.0% for the 40 to 44 male age group, 71.1% and 55.0% for the 50 to 54 male age group, 70.8% and 73.4% for the 30 to 34 male age group, 44.3% and 40.4% for the 20 to 24 female age group, and 40.0% and 14.1% for the 30 to 34 female age group. Except for the male 30 to 34age group, all Dowa district age groups surpass the results in the national survey.
The percentages by age distribution for respondents who selected "Want to start my own business" were 28.5% for Dowa districts and 15.6% for national results for the 35 to 39 male age group, 20.8% and 12.5% for the 30 to 34 male age group, 7.7% and 3.4% for the 45 to 49 female age group, 7.1% and 3.6% for the 50 to 54 female age group, and 7.0% and 2.7% for the 55 to 59 female age group. The percentages for all Dowa age groups surpass the national results.
4) Reasons for Not Seeking Jobs
Table 6-20 shows reasons for not seeking jobs among the unemployed.
| male | female | |||
| Dowa district | National | Dowa district | National | |
| Relevant number | 894 | 1,364,000 | 1,866 | 4,679,000 |
| I tried to locate, but failed. | 4.8% | 7.8% | 2.5% | 4.9% |
| Jobs I look for are not available. | 2.6% | 10.0% | 2.3% | 8.6% |
| I am not confident in my knowledge and abilities. | 0.6% | 2.9% | 0.5% | 2.5% |
| Ailing or aging. | 59.8% | 34.2% | 51.9% | 12.5% |
| Mental or physical disabilities | 4.5% | - | 3.6% | - |
| Because I am student | 14.9% | - | 7.0% | - |
| I am busy with study or child-raring | 0.7% | 7.0% | 12.9% | 40.3% |
| Nursing or helping family members | 1.7% | 2.3% | 3.4% | 5.5% |
| I do not find appropriate jobs. | 2.7% | - | 4.6% | - |
| I donot know how to locate jobs. | 0.7% | - | 0.7% | - |
| No need to immediately find jobs | 3.2% | 19.6% | 6.8% | 16.1% |
| Others | 3.0% | 16.1% | 3.4% | 9.6% |
| Unknown | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.7% | 0.1% |
While not included in the national survey, the four optional responses of "Have mental or physical disabilities," "Am a student," "No appropriate jobs available" and "Do not know how to find a job" were included in the Dowa survey, which makes it difficult to make a strict comparison between the two surveys. However, according to the above table, the most frequent response for Dowa districts is "Due to sickness or age" for both males and females, with the percentages much higher than those in the national survey. The 39.4 point gap between Dowa and national females is significantly wider than the 25.6 point gap for males.
The high proportion of "Due to sickness or age" responses in Dowa districts is due to the higher percentage of elderly residents in Dowa districts than the national population. The "Busy with housework or raising children" response is less frequent in Dowa districts, especially for females.
According to the Basic Survey of Employment Structure, 94.6% of unemployed males aged 15 to 19 are enrolled at school, while those "Busy with study or raising children" account for only 24.4%. This shows that males who are not actively seeking employment due to school enrollment are not unnecessarily included in those who responded with "Busy with study or raising children." As shown in the table, the "No need to immediately seek employment" and "Others" responses are picked much less often by Dowa district males, meaning that non-job seeking Dowa district males include some students.
Few Dowa district males and females responded with "Failed to gain employment" or "Desired employment not available."
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