Civil service contract workers fear lack of job security

Japan Times

19-05-2025

With public services such as child care and welfare being increasingly carried out by nonregular civil servants, concerns have emerged over the poor working conditions of such workers and how they could ultimately affect the daily lives of citizens.
Chief among the worries of such nonregular civil servants, as well as employees of private-sector organizations designated as public service administrators by local governments, are low wages and a risk of sudden dismissals.
Voices from these 'government-made working poor' are revealing the challenges faced at the front lines of the local civil service.
'Teacher, look at this!' children at a public nursery school in Miyagi Prefecture say as they run up to a midcareer teacher.
'What is it?' the teacher asks as she warmly interacts with each child.
Though the work is rewarding, she feels disheartened when she sees her paychecks.
'To be honest, sometimes I feel like I'm being taken advantage of,' confides the woman, who has worked for about 10 years as a nonregular civil servant at the nursery school.
She works almost full time, covering early and late shifts, yet her take-home pay is about ¥160,000 ($1,095) per month — less than half that of regular employees with similar years of experience.
'Even though we do the same kind of work, I feel like my work is not recognized,' the woman said. 'To the children, we are all 'teachers.''
Due to financial difficulties, municipalities across Japan have increased the number of nonregular employees since the 1990s. According to the internal affairs ministry, there were about 1.2 million nonregular local government employees as of April 2024, accounting for over 20% of all local government workers.
Child care workers, who play a crucial role in supporting working parents, are no exception, with many municipalities supplementing staff shortages with nonregular employees.
The woman also points to an 'unreasonable inequality' in the right of access to information. At her workplace, children's private information, such as their family situations or developmental traits and illnesses, is generally shared only among regular staff.
Although nonregular workers are also subject to confidentiality obligations, they are often restricted from accessing important information. 'I'm worried whether I'm able to provide appropriate care,' the woman said, adding that such a situation could affect the quality of child care.
Fears of dismissal
Nonregular employees also voice fears that they may be easily dismissed. In the fiscal year that began in April 2020, a new annual contract system for nonregular civil servants was introduced following a revision to the local civil service law.
While the change allowed nonregular employees to receive bonuses, many municipalities also introduced open recruitment exams, which nonregular employees who have had several automatic renewals of their annual contracts must take. Many local governments have an upper limit of three to five years for unconditional renewals, a system that some say is a way for them to conveniently terminate the employment of nonregular workers.
A woman in her 40s, who had worked as a nonregular government employee cooking lunch at a public school in the Tohoku region, was asked to take a recruitment exam in February 2023. She received a letter of rejection in early March for the following school year that began in April.
'My mind went blank,' she says, adding that she did not receive satisfactory explanations from the local government for the reasons behind her rejection.
With little time to find another job before her contract ended, she sold her car to cover her living expenses temporarily. She remains suspicious that she was made to take the recruitment exam to make it easier to dismiss her.
Although she later found a cooking job at a private child care facility, her income has dropped. 'Life is still hard,' the woman says. 'Should the government discard its workers so easily?'
A man from a private-sector organization who works at a public after-school facility in Miyagi Prefecture talks about his workplace's poor working conditions and shortage of staff. |
Kahoku Shimpo
In June last year, the central government revised the guidelines on the contract system for nonregular civil servants, advising municipalities to remove the upper limits on automatic contract renewals before subjecting such workers to exams. The revision is aimed at securing human resources, but the response of municipalities has been mixed.
In the Tohoku region, Akita Prefecture has announced the removal of term limits for certain contract workers in the welfare sector so that such specialized workers can continue working. Miyagi Prefecture plans to consider abolishing the term limits for certain fields during the current fiscal year. But the city of Sendai, located in the same prefecture, has revealed no policy direction, saying only that options are 'under consideration.'
'Vicious cycle'
The sense of insecurity among nonregular civil servants is shared by private-sector employees who are entrusted to work in public services.
A man in his 50s working in a supporting role at a public after-school facility in Miyagi Prefecture says his pay isn't commensurate with his work even though he finds it rewarding being in a role that supports the growth of children.
The man works for a private organization that a municipality has designated as the facility's administrator. Many employees of the organization work under fixed-term contracts or as part-timers, and their monthly take-home pay is only about ¥150,000 to ¥160,000 even if they work full time.
'Turnover among younger staff is high. It's a vicious cycle of labor shortage and insufficient training,' the man says. The places at the after-school facility where he works are all taken up, but it is operated with only a limited number of staff.
Since the 2000s, the administrator designation system was introduced to utilize 'private-sector know-how' and 'improve administrative efficiency,' leading many municipalities to outsource public service operations.
However, this shift created a breeding ground for the government-made working poor in the private sector — a situation similar to that of nonregular public servants. Despite growing demand for after-school facilities, compensation levels for outsourced private-sector workers often fall below even those of nonregular civil servants.
'The management fees provided by municipalities are limited, and service quality and working conditions differ among operating organizations,' the man at the Miyagi after-school facility explains. 'The shortage of staff from private-sector operators may affect (the quality of care for) children.'
He also questions whether municipalities can still grasp the challenges faced at after-school facilities as well as they did when they managed them directly.
The period of administrator designation is usually five years for each organization. While there are cases in which employees can continue working at the same place even when there is a change in operators, a man in his 40s working at another after-school facility notes that when such rotations occur, policies tend to change too. 'It's hard to build a career plan,' he said.
According to sources, there have been cases in Tohoku in which former nonregular civil servants handling lunches for public nursery schools faced pay cuts after they were transferred to private-sector organizations. This went against agreed conditions stating their annual incomes will not fall after such transfers.
Across Japan, there are also cases in which there are no takers for designated administrator contracts due to the low commission fees involved.
Meanwhile, some municipalities have begun improving the working terms of workers in such support roles.
The city of Miyoshi in Aichi Prefecture enacted an ordinance on public service contracts in February last year to ensure businesses undertaking public projects and services maintained acceptable labor conditions and adhered to minimum wage standards. The city also raised the wages of nonregular civil servants.
Yoji Kambayashi, a professor of labor sociology at Rikkyo University, points out that the designated administrators are providing public services tied directly to residents' lives that should primarily be handled by municipalities themselves. 'Even if such services are outsourced, poor working conditions of employees must not be tolerated,' he says.
'Without ensuring a sense of security for workers, it will be impossible to sustain public services and local communities,' says Kambayashi, who is well-versed in the issue of government-made working poor. 'Municipalities must have a sense of crisis in dealing with this issue.'
This section features topics and issues from the Tohoku region covered by the Kahoku Shimpo, the largest newspaper in Tohoku. The original articles were published April 6 and April 7.