As the world continues to change, countries like China have been experiencing overall improvements to their quality of life while traditionally more developed countries seem to be slipping in terms of job security and benefits.

According to a yearly study conducted by labor research groups and think tanks, only 46.9% of workers in Japan receive their overtime in full. This is a significant 8.9% lower from just a year before.

The survey was conducted over the internet, gathering responses from 2,000 private sector workers aged 20 to 64 in areas around Tokyo and Osaka.  Of the people asked, just under half responded that they “have received their overtime pay in full.”

Among the other half, 6.3% claimed they received no overtime pay at all. Another 29% of people surveyed were completely in the dark whether they receive overtime or not. The remaining 17.8% reported receiving fractions of pay for their overtime worked.

So why aren’t they getting paid?

When asked, a third of the people who don’t receive full payment simply say they never report the 21.3 on average hours worked per month. The top two reasons for not reporting overtime were a company imposed limit on overtime hours (24.2%) and a work environment that discourages reporting overtime hours (35.3%).

Considering the results, the researchers conclude “it is important that both employers and employee be told that not paying for overtime work is against the law.”

However, with a stagnant economy causing companies to cut staff, the remaining workers have burn the candle at both ends picking up the slack of lost coworkers and proving their own value to the shrinking organization.

They are often subjected to overtime limits but unable to handle the workload (unofficially) demanded of them in that time. In such cases they must make up the work at home on weekends for free.

Source: Mainichi (Japanese)
Chart: RocketNews24