Nearly 90 Pct of Teachers in Japan Want Overtime Pay

October 19, 2018

Tokyo- Nearly 90 pct of teachers at public schools in Japan want to get paid for working overtime, a labor union survey released Thursday showed.

The survey by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, showed 86.3 pct of respondents supported reforms to enable overtime pay.

Overtime pay is not provided to public school teachers under law.

The survey was conducted online in mid-September. Answers were given by 1,000 public school teachers aged 20 or over across the country.

The average weekly working hours for respondents stood at 62.1. The percentage of those working over 60 hours per week came in at 53.4 pct, indicating the working conditions of public school teachers are "extremely serious," a Rengo official warned.

The survey showed that 86.2 pct of respondents supported the idea of regarding time spent for preparations for classes and grading activities during off-duty hours as working hours.

Over 90 pct of respondents in their 20s and 30s said they cannot finish work during their labor time. Jiji Press