As a result of the LDP de-fanging the Worker Dispatching Act, temp workers once again faced mass layoffs similar to that of the 2008 financial crisis.

The 2008 financial crisis triggered mass layoffs of temporary workers. This was enabled, in part, by loosened regulations that allowed temp workers to fill manufacturing jobs beginning in 2004, during the tenure of Toyota Motor Corporation’s Hiroshi Okuda as chairman of Keidanren.

The Democratic Party of Japan administration, which came into power in 2009, submitted a bill to revise the Worker Dispatching Act the following year. One of the bill’s aims was to prohibit temp jobs and registered temp jobs in the manufacturing industry. Registered temp jobs refers to a system in which a worker registers with a temporary staffing agency and is employed only when there is work available at a client company.

Photo taken on June 2, 2020, by Shota Tomonaga.

Top three LDP donors in 2020 all manufactures that have produced Keidanren chairmen

However, the proposal was greeted with fierce opposition by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), then the opposition party. The amendment, passed in 2012, ultimately failed to prohibit temp jobs and registered temp jobs in manufacturing.

Why did the LDP oppose the revision? LDP politician Seichi Eto stated the following at a meeting of the House of Councillors’ committee on labor on March 27, 2012.

“In a survey of manufacturing companies, about 70% of companies responded that a ban on temp workers in manufacturing would lead to increased unemployment, about 60% responded that Japan’s domestic manufacturing industry would decline, and about 50% responded that such a move would further contribute to the ‘hollowing out’ of Japanese industry,” he said.

“In particular, there are concerns that small and medium-sized enterprises will find it difficult to secure human resources, leading to a decline in production levels and an increasing number of companies going bankrupt,” Eto continued. “If measures are taken to ban temp jobs in manufacturing, Japan’s manufacturing industry could collapse.”

During the Covid pandemic, eight years later in 2020, non-regular workers were first to be laid off as companies adjusted their workforces. Because the LDP had de-fanged the law, non-regular employees were caught in the same situation as during the 2008 financial crisis.

The top three LDP donor companies in 2020 were: 1) Toyota, with 64.4 million yen, 2) Hitachi, with 50 million yen, and 3) Canon, with 40 million yen. Top leadership from all three companies have served as chairmen of Keidanren: Toyota’s Hiroshi Okuda from 2002 to 2006, Canon’s Fujio Mitarai from 2006 to 2010, and Hitachi’s Hiroaki Nakanishi from 2018 to 2021.

While non-regular workers were losing their jobs and searching desperately for ways to make a living, major corporations continued donating tens of millions of yen to the LDP. For such corporations, with profits in the trillions of yen, the donation amounts are negligible — but in return, the LDP lends them a sympathetic ear. It’s a bargain.

Even as major corporations cut non-regular employees, they do not cut ties with the LDP.

Top 50 companies that made donations to the National Political Association (a conduit for donations to the LDP) in 2020

	Company name	Total(JPY)
1	TOYOTA MOTOR	64,400,000
2	Hitachi	50,000,000
3	Canon	40,000,000
4	Nomura Holdings	35,000,000
5	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	33,000,000
6	Daiwa Securities Group	32,000,000
7	Sumitomo Chemical Company	31,000,000
8	Toray Industries	30,000,000
9	Nissan Motor	30,000,000
10	Panasonic	28,500,000
11	ITOCHU Corporation	28,000,000
12	Sumitomo Corporation	28,000,000
13	MITSUI & CO.	28,000,000
14	Mitsubishi Corporation	28,000,000
15	Honda Motor	25,000,000
16	Hino Motors	22,100,000
17	Mitsubishi Motors Corporation	21,000,000
18	ZENSHO HOLDINGS CO.	20,000,000
19	NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION	20,000,000
20	East Japan Railway Company	20,000,000
21	Marubeni Corporation	20,000,000
22	Mizuho Financial Group	20,000,000
23	Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation	20,000,000
24	Mitsui Fudosan Co.	20,000,000
25	Mitsubishi Electric	20,000,000
26	MUFG BANK	20,000,000
27	Central Japan Railway Company	20,000,000
28	Daihatsu Motor	19,700,000
29	Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance	18,140,000
30	OBAYASHI CORPORATION	18,000,000
31	Kajima Corporation	18,000,000
32	Shimizu Corporation	18,000,000
33	TAISEI CORPORATION	18,000,000
34	TAKENAKA CORPORATION	18,000,000
35	SUBARU CORPORATION	17,000,000
36	Nippon Life Insurance Company	17,000,000
37	Asahi Kasei Corporation	15,000,000
38	Sony	15,000,000
39	NEC Corporation	15,000,000
40	FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation	15,000,000
41	MAEDA CORPORATION	15,000,000
42	Fujitsu Limited	15,000,000
43	Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.	13,300,000
44	ISUZU MOTORS LIMITED	13,000,000
45	The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company	12,500,000
46	Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company	12,200,000
47	NTT DOCOMO	12,000,000
48	Denso Corporation	12,000,000
49	SUZUKI MOTOR	11,400,000
50	Sojitz Corporation	11,000,000

Note: Donation amounts do not include donations from group companies or subsidiaries.

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