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Ad hoc Survey of Employment and Unemployment Conditions (Preliminary Report) - Results of October-November 2002 -
Released on 31 January 2003
Outline of the survey
| Purpose of the survey: |
The purpose of the survey is to grasp in more detail the actual state of employment and unemployment to cope adequately with still severe employment situation. And in particular, to grasp the actual state of unemployed persons including the state of receiving employment insurance benefits, etc. |
| Time of the survey: |
The survey is conducted twice in 2002 (the first survey in April and May, the second in October and November) |
| Scale of the survey: |
Approximately 20,000 households are covered each time of survey |
| Method of the survey: |
Enumerators distribute questionnaires to households that have completed the Labour Force Survey. The filled-out questionnaires are collected by mail from the households. |
| Topics to be surveyed: |
Types of income |
I The status of unemployed persons
1 Types of main monthly income
With regard to types of main monthly income of the 3.49 million unemployed persons in October and November, 1.72 million persons had "No income," which accounted for about 50 %, while 700,000 persons had "Employment insurance (Unemployment benefits)" and 280,000 persons had "Annuities or pensions."
Fig. 1 Number of unemployed persons by type of main monthly income
With regard to types of main monthly income of unemployed persons by relationship to the head of the household, the heads of the household with both "Employment insurance (Unemployment benefits)" and "No income" accounted for the largest number at 230,000. And also persons with "No income" were the highest in number among all types of relationship except the heads of the household. Of particular note were "Other family members" with "No income" at 1.04 million, those with "Employment insurance (Unemployment benefits)" were the next.
Fig. 2 Number of unemployed persons by relationship to head of household and type of main income
With regard to types of main monthly income of unemployed persons by age group, persons with "No income" accounted for the largest number in all age groups, except the group aged 55 and over.
In particular, there were 520,000 persons aged 25 to 34 with "No income," and 440,000 aged 15 to 24.
On the other hand, persons aged 55 and over with "Annuities or pensions" accounted for the largest number at 260,000.
Fig. 3 Number of unemployed persons by type of main income and age group
Table 1 Unemployed persons by type of main monthly income
2 Types of main income etc. covering monthly household expenses
With regard to proportion of types of main monthly income etc. covering monthly expenses of household, of which heads were unemployed, persons with "Employment insurance (Unemployment benefits)" accounted for the largest number at 28.6%, followed by those with "Annuities or pensions" at 26.8%, "Drawing out of property such as deposits and savings" at 14.3%.
Fig. 4 Proportions of unemployed persons (heads of household) by type of main income etc. covering monthly household expenses
3 The state of receiving employment insurance(unemployment benefits)
With regard to the state of the employment insurance (unemployment benefits) received by unemployed persons, persons with "Receiving or expected to receive benefits"(*1) were 940,000, "Receiving no benefits"(*2) were 2.36 million.
With regard to the details by relationship to the head of the household, "Other family members" with "Receiving no benefits" were 1.18 million persons, which accounted for about 80%. And the heads of household with "Receiving no benefits" were 520,000 persons, with "Receiving or expecting to receive benefits" were 310,000 persons.
(*1) Total of those with "Receiving benefits at present" and "Expected to receive benefits shortly."
(*2) Total of those with "Already finished receiving benefits but continuing to seek jobs," "Not meeting requirements for benefits" and "Others"(including "Have no previous jobs").
Fig. 5 Number of unemployed persons by relationship to head of household and the state of receiving employment insurance benefits
With regard to the state of receiving the employment insurance (unemployment benefits) of 2.29 million unemployed persons with previous jobs by type of employment in previous jobs, "Regular employees" with "Receiving or expected to receive benefits" were 780,000 persons and those with "Receiving no benefits" were 710,000 persons. On the other hand, "Non-regular employees"(*) such as part-time workers with "Receiving no benefits" were 550,000 persons, which accounted for about 90%.
(*) Total of "Part-time workers or arbeit," "Dispatched workers from temporary labor agency" and "Others."
Fig. 6 Number of unemployed persons by type of employment in previous job and the state of receiving employment insurance benefits
4 The state of activities for strengthening vocational capabilities
With regard to the state of activities for strengthening vocational capabilities of the 3.49 million unemployed persons during the past 1 year, persons with "Joining in activities" were 1.23 million, while those with "Joining in no activities" were 2.10 million. With regard to reasons for joining in no activities for strengthening vocational capabilities of the unemployed persons by age group, persons with "No particular reason" were the highest in number among all age groups. And persons aged 15 to 44 among each age groups with "No money to spare" were the next to those with "No particular reason."
Fig. 7 Number of unemployed persons by the state of activities for strengthening vocational capabilities and age group
Table 2 Number of unemployed persons by the state of activities for strengthening vocational capabilities
II The status of employed persons
The state of seeking jobs
With regard to the state of seeking jobs by 63.02 million employed persons, persons with "Seeking jobs" were 3.45 million.
With regard to reasons for "Seeking jobs" by age group, there were 160,000 persons aged both 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 with "Because current job is a temporary one," 110,000 persons aged 35 to 44 with "Wishing to take up a job suitable to oneself," 130,000 persons aged 45 to 54 with "Because of decrease in income from current job," 90,000 persons aged 55 and over with "Labor conditions are not satisfactory," all of which accounted for the largest number in each group.
Fig. 8 Number of employed persons seeking jobs by age group and reason for seeking jobs
With regard to the state of seeking jobs by employees, persons with "Seeking jobs" were 2.84 million. With regard to this statistics by type of employment, "Regular employees" were 1.27 million, and "Non-regular employees" were 1.57 million, so "Non-regular employees" with "Seeking jobs" were more than "Regular employees."
With regard to the details by reason for seeking jobs, "Regular employees" with "Unsatisfactory labor conditions" accounted for the largest number at 260,000, while "Non-regular employees"(*) with "Because current job is a temporary one" accounted for the largest number at 400,000.
(*) Total of "Part-time workers," "arbeit," "Dispatched workers from temporary labor agency," "Contract workers or entrusted workers" and "Others."
Fig. 9 Number of employees seeking jobs by type of employment and reason for seeking jobs
III The status of population not in labour force
Future plans for seeking jobs
With regard to future plans for seeking jobs of the 41.09 million persons not in labour force, persons with "Planning or possible to seek jobs"(*) were 8.99 million.
With regard to the details by relationship to the head of the household, the heads of the household with "Planning to seek jobs shortly" were 250,000 persons, "Spouses of the head of the household" with "Seeking jobs if time becomes available" were 1.99 million persons," "Other family members" with "Seeking jobs for graduation from school" were 2.52 million persons, all of which accounted for the largest number in each group.
(*) Total of "Planning to seek jobs shortly," "Possible to seek jobs depending on future employment status of family members," "Seeking jobs if time becomes available" and "Seeking jobs for graduation from school."
Fig. 10 Population not in labour force planning or possible to seek jobs in future by relationship to head of household
Ad hoc Survey of Employment and Unemployment Conditions (PDF:95KB)
Statistical Tables
Notes on the statistical tables
- Figures may not add up to totals because figures are rounded to ten thousand or totals are inclusive of "unclassifiable."
- "-" indicates that the figure can not be computed.
Table 3 Number of unemployed persons by type of main monthly income and age group (Excel:22KB)
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