University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 0585
Survey Title The Questionnaire Survey on Work and Life of Workers, 2007.10
Depositor JTUC Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards
(Former Name:Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards)
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' at SSJDA website.

- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval required.
Educational Purpose Available for both research and instructional purposes.
Period of Data Use Permission One year
Access to Datasets Download
Nesstar Not available
Summary This survey, “The Questionnaire Survey on Work and Life of Workers,” aims to clarify economic, employment, and living trends as seen from the perspective of workers and to obtain basic information with which to consider policy issues from the perspective of improving employment and quality of life. This is done by periodically exploring workers’ attitudes toward economic trends in Japan and their current state of work and living.

The survey has been conducted regularly in April and October of every year since the first survey in April 2001, and this is the 14th. In the 10th survey (October 2005), we added a number of improvements, including a revision of the fixed-point observation items and expansion of the survey subjects to people in their early 60s, and these are reflected in this survey as well. All surveys conducted to date have been included in the SSJDA.

In Japan, the economic recovery phase has entered its sixth year, but wages have not increased and deflation is not quite over yet. From the viewpoint of workers’ daily lives and work, the feeling of economic recovery remains scarce.

The survey items on this occasion comprise fixed-point survey items (awareness regarding the economy, work, life, etc,) and topic survey items related to (1) attitudes to politics and voting behavior (House of Councillors election in July 2007), and (2) awareness of work-life balance (long working hours, unpaid overtime work, stress from and at work, measures taken to make it easy to take days off and leaves, use of systems related to work-life balance, etc.)
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe Private company employees in their 20s to early 60s who live in the Greater Tokyo Area and Kansai region
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size
Number of questionnaires distributed│     All respondents│      Employed
                         │ Valid responses  Valid response rate │Valid responses  Valid response rate
“In 20s to 50s”  900        │   805        89.4% │  776         86.2%
“In early 60s”   200        │  180         90.0% │ 152           76.0%

Although this survey targets “employees working at private companies,” the sample contains some respondents who are not employees, owing to a change in their employment status from the time they registered for the access panel and the time the survey was conducted. 29 of the respondents “in their 20s to 50s” and 28 “in their early 60s” in the current survey fall under this category of non-employees. The survey results of only employed people were analyzed. 
Date of Collection 2007-10-05 ~ 2007-10-15
2007/10/05 (Fri) – 10/15 (Mon)
Time Period 2007 ~ 2007
Spatial Unit kanto
kinki
The Greater Tokyo Area Kansai region
“In 20s to 50s”    65.5%   34.5%
“In early 60s”   66.4%   33.6%
Sampling Procedure Other
In order to secure a large enough sample, we set the extraction rate of “early 60’s” group at nearly four times that of the “20’s to 50’s” group.

(1) 20s to 50s:
The sample allocation criteria were prepared, taking into account the population size of private employees in the Greater Tokyo Area and Kansai region, as well as the distribution of employees by gender, age group, and employment status of the “2002 (Heisei 14) Employment Status Survey.” Based on the allocation criteria, 582 people living in the Greater Tokyo Area and 318 people living in Kansai region (900 people in total) were extracted from the access panel of INTAGE Inc. (approximately 240,000 people nationwide).

(2) Early 60s:
For private-sector employees in aged 60-64 in the “2002 Employment Status Survey,” the sample allocation criteria were formulated to reflect the distribution of employees by gender, age group, and employment status in the Greater Tokyo Area and Kansai regions. In accordance with these allocation criteria, a total of 200 residents of the Greater Tokyo Area and Kansai regions were sampled from from the access panel (approximately 240,000 nationwide) registered with INTAGE, Inc.
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Questionnaires for self-administered mail survey were distributed

Data in the analysis are summarized separately for those in their 20s to 50s and those in their early 60s, owing the differences in sampling method for these two groups as outlined above. In the report, the survey of those in their early 60s is treated only as a reference, and the summary values in the survey pertain only to employees in their 20s to 50s.
Investigator Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards, survey carried out by INTAGE Inc.
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.0585
Sponsors (Funds)
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Questionnaire
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation
Major Survey Items Questionnaire items:

 <Fixed-point survey>

(1) Economic trends and business conditions of the employer
Current Japanese economy compared with one year ago, reasons for feeling the economic climate is good or bad, Japanese economic forecast one year later, work status, current business situation at the place of employment (performance) (comparison with one year ago/forecast one year later), increase or decrease in number of employees compared to one year ago (regular employees/non-regular employees), increase or decrease in actual working hours compared with one year ago, anxiety about becoming unemployed in one year

(2) Income, consumption and living conditions
Increase or decrease in personal wage income (comparison with one year ago/forecast one year later), increase or decrease in household income (comparison with one year ago/forecast one year later), increase or decrease in total household consumption (comparison with one year ago/ forecast one year later), income and expenditure of entire household in the past year, sense of fluctuation in prices (comparison with one year ago/ forecast one year later)

(3) Evaluation of work and life
Things respondent considers important about work, evaluation of work at the place of employment (11 items),
characteristics of work and level of discretion (10 items),sense of excess or insufficiency of workers in relation to volume of work, performance/outcome based wage and benefit differences for regular employees compared to five years ago, time allocation for work and non-work activities, whether respondent wants to work for a different company/reasons, satisfaction level with work, satisfaction level with life in general, health condition

(4) Labor union
Existence of labor union, membership status, intention to become a union member, whether a union is necessary


<Topics survey>

(5) Political consciousness and voting behavior
1. House of Councillors election in July 2007: person who encouraged respondent to vote,status of voting,political party voted for (electoral district), method of voting for proportional district, political party voted for (proportional district), reasons for voting (electoral district/proportional district), what was useful in deciding vote choice, focal points when deciding the vote
2. Next election of the House of Representatives: intention to vote, points of contention in the House of Representatives election

(6) Perceptions of work-life balance
1. Working overtime and on days off: reasons for working outside of regular hours, position for which overtime allowances are paid, applicable working hours system, how hours eligible for overtime allowance are determined, proportion of hours for which overtime allowance was actually paid, reasons for unpaid overtime work (so-called service overtime)
2. Work-life balance: measures to facilitate the taking of leave, implementation of measures to ensure that leave, reduced working hours and the like do not lead to disadvantage in career development, existence of and intention to use programs related to work-life balance (reduced working hours system, flexi-time system, late start/early finish times, exemption from work outside of regular hours, systems for reducing the number of working days per week, education and training leave, volunteering leave, remote work, restriction of workplace locations), who to consult for advice on problems related to work/life balance.

Face items:
Gender, age, marital status, highest level of educational attainment, actual working hours per week, annual personal wage income, household income, household earner other than respondent, spouse’s employment status, spouse’s actual working hours per week, financial provider in the household, number of children, age of the youngest child, presence of a family member in need of nursing care, cohabitation with parents, political party supported, support for the Cabinet, industry of employer, size of company by number of employees, occupation type, years of continuous employment

In addition, the access panel registration information was used for area of residence, household composition, type of residence, and number of years at residence
Date of Release 2008/08/28
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Economic conditions and indicators
Employment
Labour relations/conflict
Working conditions
Political behaviour and attitudes
Topics in SSJDA Employment/Labor
Society/Culture
Version 1 : 2008-08-28
Notes for Users Variable and value labels are written in Japanese.