Nikkei newspaper reported last month:
According to a labor force survey in 2011 which was announced by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan, the percentage of temporary workers such as part-time workers and dispatched workers among people in employment reached 35.2%, up 0.8 point from the previous year. The percentage of temporary workers has hit a record high for two consecutive years. The number of those who are totally unemployed for more than 1 year are 1.09 million people, which reflects a tough job market.
(unquote)
The recent unemployment rate in Japan which was announced by Japan government is
4.6%.
However, most of Japanese don't believe it saying that it's a tricky statistic.
So many people are not counted in the denominator. For example, those who stopped to find a job, so-called "NEET" (not in education, employment, or training) and those who do not go to the official job agency (called "Hello Work") to find a job are excluded.
The real unemployment in Japan will be around 13% or so (maybe higher) in my personal feeling.
The number of those who applied for Daily Life Protection (similar to SSI in US) has hit a record high of around 2.09 million people and this number has been increasing rapidly. In addition, a big problem in this trend is that the number of working generations such as 40s and 50s who apply for Daily Life Protection has been explosively increasing.
Considering these real social environments, it is no wonder why apathy and sense of powerlessness are pervasive in many young people in Japan.
