It is hard to compare two countries which are completely different. Or at least may seem to be. First, let’s take a look at the unemployment rate. As seen in figure 2-3-1 and 1-4-6, the unemployment in both countries has been rising in the past years. As both countries are affected by the development the whole world is going through, namely economic changes, international trade and recessions, the unemployment rate can be ascribed to these factors. Each country has found its unique way in dealing with the problem, and we must admit that Japan was more successful, keeping its unemployment rate at a much lower level than Slovakia. However, Japanese regard even this low level of unemployment as unacceptable. In Slovakia, where there was also no unemployment in the past, the people got used to being in a recession.
The working conditions in both countries have been changing. In Japan, the introduction of more women and foreign workers into the labor market has changed the work environment. There has been a change in the conditions of manual workers, where there is a large proportion of foreigners. Women have entered jobs previously held by men, and have started to combine their job and family life. More older people, who are in the age to retire, have returned into the labor force, either as entrepreneurs or part-time workers specialists. The wages have been slowly increasing across all professions, from 372000 yen in 1990, to 401000 in 2000.
Figure 3-1-1 |
Slovakian conditions of work have been transforming at a more rapid pace. The abrupt change in employment, which came at the beginning of 1990s forced many employees and employers to look for alternate ways of working. They were forced by the recession in economy and the entry of competition from abroad. Foreign companies wrote the rules and Slovak ones had to play along to survive. Wages and working conditions increased rapidly. In figure 3-1-1 can be seen the proportion of Japanese-Slovak wages. At the beginning of 1990s, the wage in Japan was 35 times higher than the Slovak one; however, by 2000, the proportion fell below 11 times.
A certain similarity can be found in the age distribution of the population (figure 3-1-2). Like in Japan, in Slovakia the growth slowed, causing a rising proportion of aged people. Even though the population is a little more evenly distributed in Slovakia, the similarities can be easily seen. There is a small proportion of children under 14 years of age in both countries and even lower of young, potential workers aged 15-24. However, the proportion of the current workforce is half of the population. There is a probability that a large portion of these workers will reach their retirement
age without substitution in the work force, as there is too few young people.
Figure 3-1-2 |
