Over 6,000 workers at 41 listed firms apply for early retirement: poll

TOKYO, Dec. 6 Kyodo - More than 6,000 workers at 41 listed Japanese companies left or have decided to
leave their jobs under early retirement programs offered by their employers
between April and November, according to a Kyodo News survey released Saturday.
The figure is 1.6 times higher than last year's level, when excluding a
one-time factor, indicating that the pace of deterioration in the nation's
businesses is outpacing companies' cost-cutting efforts.
It also suggests that job security is not only a concern for part-timers but
also full-time workers.
Early retirement programs are a restructuring method in which employers call on
workers to apply voluntarily for such programs which usually offer extra pay in
addition to a normal retirement allowance.
By industry, construction companies and electronics makers accounted for a
large proportion of the 41 firms listed on bourses including the Tokyo Stock
Exchange.
Mid-sized construction firm Okumura Corp., which called for early retirement by
its employees age 35 or older, came at the top of the list with 622 employees
applying for its program.
Peer constructors Maeda Corp. and Daiho Co. also saw 525 workers and 150
employees leaving, respectively.
Major condominium developer Daikyo Inc. announced in early November a similar
plan for employees aged 40 or older, expecting some 450 workers would apply for
it.
In the electronics industry, a large number of early retirees were seen at
Pioneer Corp., with 514, and Oki Electric Industry Co., with about 300,
mirroring recent realignments within the industry.
The move to encourage early retirement has been spreading also to chemical,
textile, food and publishing companies.
Jun Inoue, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute, said that unlike
normal retirement by workers who reach retirement age, ''retirements by
employees in their most productive years would lead directly to a rise in
unemployment.''
Inoue said that unemployment rates could continue to worsen, peaking in the
first half of 2010.
In last year's April-November period, 8,549 workers left their jobs under early
retirement programs. But about half of that figure was attributable to one-off
massive restructuring at Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos Co., Victor Co. of Japan and
Japan Airlines Corp.
==Kyodo
2008-12-06 22:36:08