University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 0706
Survey Title Survey on Employees on Work Consignment Contracts, 2010
Depositor Counsellor Department of Labor Policy attached to Director General, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' at SSJDA website.

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Educational Purpose Only available for research.
Period of Data Use Permission One year
Access to Datasets Download
Nesstar Not available
Summary In recent years, even if a person is self-employed, they may have to deal with an intermingling of exclusive work consignment contracts and service contracts with the same company. Thus, a class of employee who works without actually being hired has emerged that cannot easily be classified as being employed or non-employed, and it has been indicated that existing systems and laws do not apply to such persons.

Hence, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare convened the “Study group on employees on work consignment contracts” seven times from August 2009 and had them release a report surveying the actual state of “employees on work consignment contracts” working without being hired, based on consignments and contract agreements, and investigate the direction of future policy. The study group report describes the actual state of employees on work consignment contracts and proposes a policy direction based on it.

The study group held a hearing of job listing services, labor unions, NPOs, applicable corporations, and academic experts and surveyed the actual use of employees on work consignment contracts and their employment status through a consignment work survey (“Survey research project of employees on work consignment contracts”).

 The following information was surveyed by the consignment work survey.
   (1) Analysis of 625 job listings found on job listing sites and in publications (desktop research)
   (2) Questionnaire survey of 2,000 business facilities using employees on work consignment contracts
   (3) Interview survey of business facilities and employees


The information recorded here is from the “(2) Questionnaire survey of business facilities” above.
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe Business facilities using employees on work consignment contracts
Unit of Observation Organization
Sample Size Survey subjects
Number of corporations sampled: 2,000
Number of responses: 738
Response rate: 36.9%
Valid responses: 325
Valid response rate: 16.3%

NOTE: Employees on work consignment contracts who responded “Present” to question 1 are considered valid.
Date of Collection 2010-01-18 ~ 2010-02-12
2010/01/18 – 02/12
Time Period 2010 ~ 2010
Spatial Unit Japan
Japan
Sampling Procedure Mixed probability and non-probability
The selection method for the 2,000 corporate survey subjects was as follows.

(1) From Job listing services            1,169 corporations
  (a) Job listing services analyzed in the “Job listing analysis” (described above): 625 corporations combining data provided by job listing publisher A (job listings from June to December 2009) and job listings clearly indicated as “working on consignment” on sites randomly selected from job listing sites referred to on the website of the Association for Job Information (posted from mid-November to December, 2008).
  (b) Job listings sampled mainly from sites that actually have a high number of job listings from among hits for “job listings and working on consignment” in a web search.

From a total of 1,407 job listings sampled in (a) and (b), duplicates were eliminated, and a mailing list of 1,169 “job listing services” was prepared.

(2) From Teikoku Databank        831 corporations
For the remainder of the 2,000 corporations, referencing the “type of industry of job listing service” ascertained from the “job listing analysis” of “Teikoku Databank” corporate data, 10 types of industry were sampled (“milk sales,” “newspaper sales,” “road freight transport,” “automobile rental,” “haircutting,” “beauty,” “advertising representation,” “shorthand and copying,” “private instruction,” “non-miscellaneous tutoring school (juku)”), and a shipping list of 831 “other corporations” was prepared.
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Mail survey
Investigator Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, survey carried out by INTAGE Inc.
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.0706
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 (1) Actual state of use of employees on consignment contracts
 - Status of employees on work consignment contracts at business facility (number of employees on work consignment contracts, number of females included)
 - Reasons for using
 - Recruiting methods
 - Important items when concluding and renewing contracts
 - Whether employees on work consignment contracts were formerly regular employees or non-regular employees and the numbers thereof
 - Whether employees on work consignment contracts have become regular employees or non-regular employees and the numbers thereof
 - Percentage of employees on work consignment contracts who are exclusively on work consignment contracts
 - Whether there are any regular employees, non-regular employees, or dispatched workers (haken shain) doing the same work
 - Details of work performed/details of work most often performed
 - Size of work requiring the most employees on work consignment contracts throughout the year
 - Effects of being unable to use employees on work consignment contracts, methods of dealing with such effects

(2) Status of employees on work consignment contracts
 - Age/most common age
 - Highest level of educational attainment/most frequent highest level of educational attainment
 - Work consignment period/most frequent work consignment period

(3) Actual state of contracts with employees on work consignment contracts
 - Manner of working on consignment contracts
 - Specific details of work governed by consignment contracts
 - Status of contract term with employees on work consignment contracts (contract term/contract renewal/renewal frequency)

(4) Contract conditions
 - Use of business cards by employees on work consignment contracts with company name
 - Expenses borne by employees on work consignment contracts
 - Social insurance enrollment by employees on work consignment contracts
 - Compensation for employees on work consignment contracts injured on the job or during commute
 - Payment of transportation costs for commuting and work meetings

(5) Compensation
 - Factors determining compensation/weightiest factors
 - Guidelines for determining amount of compensation
 - Compensation indexes for persons with the highest work product
 - How compensation is determined
 - Percentage of total compensation that is fixed salary
 - Handling of taxes on compensation

(6) Actual state of work
 - Places where work is performed
 - Necessity of getting to work at a daily predetermined time
 - Number of times going to work per week
 - How employees on work consignment contracts proceed with predetermined work
 - Frequency of reporting on work progress
 - Completion time for accepted work
 - Frequency of being made to work beyond the scope of contracted work
 - Frequency of employees on work consignment contracts suspending work
 - Whether or not employees on work consignment contracts may subcontract work
 - Opportunities provided to employees on work consignment contracts for training
 - Knowledge of systems available to employees on work consignment contracts

(7) Contract renewal
 - Whether there are any problems with contract renewal
 - Advanced note that repeatedly renewed consignment contract work will not be renewed
 - Handling of repeatedly renewed consignment work that will not be renewed
 - Experience with repeatedly renewed consignment contract work not being renewed
 - Experience of contracts being cancelled mid-term/reasons for cancellation/advanced warning of mid-term cancellation/most frequent cases
 - Notifying headquarters of information on employees on work consignment contracts
 - Department with effective authority over concluding, cancelling, or modifying contracts

(8) Problems with employees on work consignment contracts
 - Whether any problems with mid-term cancellations/details of problems/handling of problems
 - Handling when problems arise between employees on work consignment contracts and customers
 - Handling of complaints from employees on work consignment contracts

(9) Business facility and corporate attributes
 - Year of establishment of business facility
 - Main industry of business facility
 - Staff size of business facility (present/past three years)
 - Plan for number of employees and other staff for the next three years
 - Present sales index when last three years = 100
 - Whether business facility is a separate unit
 - Total number of employees
Date of Release 2011/04/07
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Employment
Labour relations/conflict
Working conditions
Business/industrial management and organisation
Topics in SSJDA Employment/Labor
Version 1 : 2011-04-07
Notes for Users Variable and value labels are written in Japanese.