Labor Ministry Deletes More Data from Key Work Style Survey

May 15, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's labor ministry said Tuesday that it has deleted more data from a key survey on work hours that was used for drawing up work style reform legislation.

The ministry said that it has removed data for 2,492 of the total of 11,575 offices covered by the survey conducted in 2013.

With the massive data withdrawal certain to dent the credibility of the survey further, opposition parties are expected to intensify their offensive against the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during parliamentary discussions on the legislation, political watchers said.

Work style reform bills are one of the top priorities for the Abe administration in the current session of the Diet, the country's parliament, which is scheduled to end on June 20.

At a meeting of the Health, Labor and Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, labor minister Katsunobu Kato said it is regrettable that the survey contained flawed data.

Still, Kato underlined the need for reforming work styles, indicating that he will not accept the opposition demand that the legislation be withdrawn.

This time, the ministry decided to remove erroneous data for 966 offices. In some cases, daily work hours topped 24 hours, one week or one month.

The ministry earlier decided to remove data for the remaining 1,526 offices that provided data on the discretionary work system.

Using the survey, the government initially claimed that work hours of employees under the discretionary system are shorter than those of ordinary workers.

After data flaws were found in the survey, the government decided in March to remove from the bills a plan to expand the scope of the discretionary system. Jiji Press