University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 1090
Survey Title Fact-finding Survey on the Work Conditions among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, 2015
Depositor National Federation of Small Business Associations
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' on the SSJDA website.

- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval is required.
Educational Purpose Only available for research.
Period of Data Use Permission One year
Access to Datasets Download
SSJDA Data Analysis Not available
Summary The purpose of this survey is to accurately apprehend work conditions in small and medium-sized enterprises and to contribute to the establishment of appropriate labor policies in small and medium-sized enterprises and the promotion of timely employment and labor support by the National Federation.

The National Federation of Small Business Associations and the Prefectural Federation of Small Business Associations have conducted the “Fact-finding Survey on Work Conditions among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises” since 1964, with this being the 52nd survey. This survey targets approximately 40,000 workplaces but with two-thirds of respondents having 30 or fewer employees, it especially reveals work conditions of small-scale businesses. In addition to basic items relating to pay, working hours, employment, and management, etc. that need to be captured in time series, this survey also investigates items related to the labor climate of each year.

This year, in addition to the time series items of management status and obstacles, working hours (beginning with fixed weekly working hours), starting salary of new graduates, and wage reform status, there are items related to overtime work over 60 hours, the rule of conversion of fixed-term labor contracts into open-ended contracts, details of revision of wages and determining factors, etc.

Data Type quantitative research: micro data
Universe Businesses with 300 or fewer employees (100 or fewer for the wholesaling industry, 50 or fewer for the retail industry, and 100 or fewer for the service industry)
Unit of Observation Organization
Sample Size Sample size: 41,207, number of valid responses: 18,409 (response rate: 44.7%)
Date of Collection 2015-07-01 ~ 2015-07-01
2015/07/01
Time Period 2015 ~ 2015
Spatial Unit
Japan (except Fukushima, Tochigi, Shizuoka, Fukui, Kochi, and Oita prefectures)
Sampling Procedure Probability: Stratified
Sampling was based on “the 2009 (Heisei 21) Economic Census Basic Survey,” in line with the number of private businesses with 300 or fewer employees (excluding agriculture, forestry, and fisheries), distributed among prefectures, with the sampling ratio based on industry and employee scale.
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Arbitrary sampling of target businesses from the Prefectural Federation of Small Business Associations with all distributed and collected questionnaires tabulated collectively by the National Federation of Small Business Associations
Investigator National Federation of Small Business Associations
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.1090
Sponsors (Funds)
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Questionnaire 】 【 Frequency Tables
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation
Major Survey Items (1) Items concerning wages
 1. Starting pay for new graduates (by school of graduation)
 2. Situation regarding wage revision (whether it was implemented between January and July 2015, details of revision)
 3. Determinants of wage revision

(2) Items concerning hours of work
 1. Scheduled weekly hours of work
 2. Average hours of overtime per month
 3. Presence/frequency of overtime work over 60 hours per month
 4.Measures to reduce overtime work
 5. Average allotment of annual paid leave and days of paid leave used

(3) Items concerning employment
 1. Employees’ employment status (number of employees by gender and employment status)
 2. State of employment of new graduates
 3. Plan to employ new graduates
 4. Recognition of “the rules of conversion from fixed-term to open-ended contracts”
 5. Whether or not there are plans to use “the rules of conversion from fixed-term to open-ended contracts”/details

(4) Items concerning management
 1. State of management
 2. Management obstacles
 3. Policy direction regarding main operations
 4. Management strengths

(5) Attributes, other
 1. Presence of a labor union
 2. Industry, number of employees, etc.

*For details of survey items, please refer to the questionnaire.
Date of Release 2017/04/03
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Employment
Working conditions
Business/industrial management and organisation
Topics in SSJDA Employment/Labor
Version 1 : 2017-04-03
Notes for Users