FREETS DON'T FAIL ME NOW

White paper says `freeters' a drag on productivity: Millions of underemployed young also portends a lower birthrate, paper warns. (The Asahi Shimbun, 5/31/03)

Painting a bleak picture of lower productivity and birthrates in the nation's future, the annual white paper on the national lifestyle was submitted to the Cabinet by Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka on Friday.

The paper, which focuses on life under a deflationary economy, singled out the growing number of "freeters''-young, unskilled part-time workers, such as convenience store clerks-as a particular source of concern.

According to the report, the number of these underemployed workers soared from 1.83 million in 1990, to 4.17 million in 2001. Consequently, one in five people in the 15 to 34 age group-excluding homemakers and students with part-time jobs-is a freeter.

In addition to decreasing overall productivity, more young people adopting a freeter lifestyle means fewer marriages and thus fewer offspring, according to the paper.

Explain to us again how monetary policy can reflate the Japanese economy? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 1, 2003 7:54 AM