University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 0616
Survey Title RENGO Questionnaire Survey on Life Styles, 2008
Depositor Japanese Trade Union Confederation
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Summary The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)’s “Questionnaire Survey on Life Styles” has been conducted every other year since 1988, when RENGO was known as the Japanese Private Sector Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO). The survey provides the basic information that are essential for determining the direction and developing demands for the Spring Struggle for a Better Life. Given the increased diversity among the interests and needs of union members in recent years, RENGO conducts the survey to accurately capture members’ candid opinions on the realities/feelings concerning their lives and workplaces. This survey was conducted to gain information about the realities and feelings concerning members’ lives and workplaces to move forward with RENGO’s 2009 Spring Struggle for a Better Life.

The composition of survey items includes the state of members’ income and household budget, the reality of working hours, life at the workplace, as well as the actual situation of and attitudes to survey on work and lifestyle, etc. while considering the continuity of the survey up to the previous survey. It strives to create material that will be useful in deepening the appreciation of people’s struggle to improve lives.

Moreover, the survey report this time includes a separate report on the survey on “part-timers, dispatched (haken) laborers, and other non-typical workers (it being the third such survey).
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe Union members of RENGO affiliates
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size Number of questionnaires distributed: 40,100 people, valid responses: 24,194 people (valid response rate: 60.3%)
Date of Collection 2008-06 ~ 2008-09
Time Period 2008 ~ 2008
Spatial Unit Japan
Japan
Sampling Procedure Non-probability: Quota
As in the previous survey, this was distributed to enterprise-based union members through affiliates. The number of survey subjects is allocated to affiliates according to the number of their members. When distributing to enterprise-based unions, a request was made to take the unions’ sizes and members’ gender, age, etc. into consideration.
Mode of Data Collection
Investigator Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.0616
Sponsors (Funds)
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Please refer to the abstract in Japanese.
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation [Questionnaire]
Major Survey Items Face items:
<Overview of workplace>
Industry of company/workplace where respondent works, number of employees, increase and decrease in the numbers of regular/non-regular employees at the workplace
<Personal attributes>
Gender, age, years of employment, highest level of educational attainment, mode of hiring, occupation type, mode of work, household structure, number of household members, number of children, development stages of oldest and youngest children, household income sources, area of residence (regional division and prefecture), type of housing, whether or not respondent has been a union officer


Questionnaire items:
(1) State of income
Respondent’s total annual wages, level of satisfaction with current total annual wages, wages for June 2008 not including overtime, public charge burden (taxes and social insurance premiums)/comparison with previous year, household total annual income/comparison with previous year

(2) State of household budget
Increase and decrease in household consumption expenditure in one year/expense items that have increased, state of household income and expenditure, future prospects for lifestyle, feelings about recent cost of living, response to recent increases in cost of living, household annual housing-related expenditure for 2007

(3) Actual situation of working hours
<State of management of working hours>
Presence of time management at workplace, applicable working time system
<Overtime working hours and overtime allowance>
Hours responded worked in excess of prescribed working hours in June 2008, increase or decrease in overtime work compared to one year ago, number of hours that overtime allowance was paid in June 2008, amount of overtime allowance, method of determining overtime work hours that are actually payable
<Unpaid overtime>
Whether or not respondent performs unpaid overtime, changes in unpaid overtime work compared to two or three years ago.
<Bringing work home to do overtime>
Whether or not respondent takes work home
<Paid annual leave, etc.>
Number of days of paid annual leave that were newly granted/taken in the 2007 fiscal year, reasons for taking paid leave, reason that accounted for greatest number of paid-leave days taken, reasons for inability to take paid annual leave, regarding respondent’s current total working hours

(4) Life at work and stress
<Health>
Whether or not respondent feels mental stress at work, reasons for feeling stress at work, whether or not stress is relieved
<Life at workplace>
Workplace concerns (10 items), work style of part-time employees and others who do the same job, evaluation of wage level of part-time employees

(5) Work-life balance
<Time use>
Situation of an average working day (wake-up time, time respondent leaves home, time respondent arrives at work, time respondent leaves work, time respondent comes home, bedtime), hours spent for housework/child-rearing on an average working day, time use for work and for self
<Child-rearing>
Whether society today is an environment that makes it easy to have children, things necessary to create a society that makes it easy to raise children, balance between child-rearing and work

(6) Attitudes to life
<How to live/work>
Thoughts on lifestyle (sense of satisfaction with work and home life or leisure, choosing between wages and free time, in relation to cooperation between men and women, in relation to payments and burdens), concerns about life after 60 years of age (securing a job that suits respondent, securing living expenses, public pension system, long-term care and medical systems)
<Level of satisfaction with life>
Current level of satisfaction with life
Date of Release 2009/08/25
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Occupational health
Working conditions
Social conditions and indicators
Time use
Topics in SSJDA Employment/Labor
Society/Culture
Version 1 : 2009-08-25
Notes for Users