Employment issues

The world is now in a great economic depression.
The subprime mortgage crisis caused a declining of US economy. The US big three automakers are nearly out of cash and asking for government assistances. The Japanese automaker Toyota forecasts an operating loss of 150 billion yen (1.7 billion dollar) to end the business year. Japan automakers fired numerous temporary workers while their contract periods. More than 80 thousands temporary workers lost their job and so that became a huge social issue of Japan.

Additionally, cancellation of informal job appointments also became a serious issue in Japan. Since most Japanese companies hire workers once a year, informal appointments are regarded as effective job contracts. So the cancelation requires reasonable excuses.
These companies have desired to intake only new graduates as regular workers in spring, even after working styles in Japan had diversified. Curiously, they prefer innocent fresh graduates than older experienced workers. Universities in Japan allow graduates to stay there to let them be "fresh" graduates.
On the other hand, mobility of employment has incompletely increased. Unlike temporary workers, regular workers are less likely fired even under economic depression. Adverse working conditions of temporary workers oblige them being a lower class permanently.

After a barrage of criticism, Japan automakers shift to share the pain equally among regular and temporary workers. Now, temporary workers account for one-third of all labor force population in Japan. Considering the falling birthrate and aging population, addressing employment issues may be a top priority for Japan.