Working away from home - earning money

Japanese: 出稼ぎ - でかせぎ

This refers to a pattern in which farmers and others leave their place of residence to work for a certain period of time, and then return to their place of residence after the working period is over, and is distinct from leaving the village for the whole family or working part-time to work. In Japan, there have been various patterns of migrant workers since before World War II. This led to Kazuo Okochi's view that the nature of wage laborers in prewar Japan was that of a "migrant worker type."

[Goga Kazumichi]

Agricultural policy and migrant labor

After World War II, the disintegration of the farming class progressed rapidly during the period of rapid economic growth, and the number of people migrating to other parts of the country also increased, but this was different in nature from the prewar period. According to the Agricultural Census, between 1960 and 1975, the number of people working full-time in agriculture decreased from 13.1 million to 6.57 million, while the number of people working part-time in agriculture increased from 6.37 million to 8.67 million. Of these, the number of people working part-time in the form of migrant work increased sharply from 180,000 to 550,000 between 1960 and 1965, but then began to decrease, and the type of part-time work shifted from migrant work to temporary/day labor, and then to permanent employment.

The government's agricultural policy played a major role in the increase in migrant farming during the period of high economic growth. It was implemented in close conjunction with policies to transform Japan's industrial structure into cutting-edge heavy chemical industries and regional development policies, and provided cheap farm labor for large corporations that were accumulating capital. Agricultural mechanization progressed rapidly under agricultural policies based on the Basic Agricultural Law (Law No. 127 of 1961), and farm work hours were shortened, while agricultural income stagnated due to low agricultural product prices and capital exploitation of agriculture (unequal exchange between industrial products such as chemical fertilizers and agricultural machinery and agricultural products). As a result, farmers were forced to take on part-time work outside of farming under pressure from rising farm management costs and household expenses, and in areas with few employment opportunities around rural areas, they had no choice but to migrate to other areas in search of work.

Throughout the period of high economic growth, the Tohoku region was by far the region with the most migrant workers (49.3% of the national total in 1963), followed by the Hokuriku region (14.1%) and Kyushu (10.1%). These regions shared the common characteristic of having fewer employment opportunities within the region than other regions, and a weakly formed local labor market. Over 90% of migrant workers were men, and the majority of them were heads of households or successors. Their employment was concentrated in large cities, and according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (now the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) "Report on the Results of the Migrant Work Survey" (1971), 47.4% of all migrant workers were employed in the Keihin area, and 15.8% in the Keihanshin area. The overwhelming majority of migrant workers were employed in the construction industry, followed by manufacturing.

The working conditions of these migrant workers were generally worse than those of regular permanent workers, from wages to social security, and there were many accidents involving non-payment of wages. Furthermore, there were many cases of migrant workers falling victim to industrial accidents and occupational diseases such as pneumoconiosis in the construction of highways, tunnels, and dams. However, many migrant workers focused on increasing their income in their new home country, sending most of their income back to their families to support their livelihood and fund their farm operations. The constant migration of migrants also had a serious impact on the families left behind in rural areas. Housewives, who were at the center of both farming and housework, were under physical and mental pressure, which led to health problems such as farmer's disease, and also had a major impact on the education of their children.

[Goga Kazumichi]

Low-growth economy and migrant workers

The number of people migrating from farming households, which had surged in the first half of the high-growth period, started to decline in the late 1960s, but the pace of decline accelerated from the 1970s to the 1990s. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Survey on Farm Employment Trends" (later renamed the "Survey on Agricultural Structure Dynamics"), the number of people migrating from farming households fell to 303,000 in 1973, 133,000 in 1980, 59,000 in 1990, and 41,000 in 1993. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare does not limit migrant workers to members of farming households, but defines them as "those who leave their place of residence for one month to less than a year to work elsewhere and return to their place of residence after the employment period has elapsed." According to this, the number of migrant workers has been declining year by year since peaking at about 550,000 in 1971-1972 (about 290,000 in 1983, about 110,000 in 1998, and about 50,000 in 2002).

Reasons for this sudden decline in migrant workers include employment adjustments under the low-growth economy since the mid-1970s, which led to personnel cuts at manufacturing companies hosting migrant workers, stagnation in construction work, and the aging of migrant workers. As for the regional distribution of migrant workers, the Tohoku region holds the highest number, as in the period of high economic growth, but the number in the Hokuriku and Kyushu regions has dropped significantly. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Survey on the Employment Status of Migrant Workers (2005), 73.2% of establishments employing migrant workers are in the construction industry, while 18.2% are in the manufacturing industry. In terms of business size, 70% are small businesses with fewer than 30 employees. The survey has since been abolished.

Regarding unemployment benefits when leaving a job, the former Unemployment Insurance Law applied to migrant workers in the same way as general workers, but since the change to the Employment Insurance Law (Law No. 116 of 1974), only a special lump sum payment (50 days' worth of daily unemployment benefits) is paid to short-term employment special insured persons when they leave a job.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, an increasing number of people from areas with few local employment opportunities, such as Hokkaido, Tohoku, and Okinawa, have been working as dispatched or contract workers through human resource agencies under short-term employment contracts of three to six months at factories in the Kanto, Tokai, and Kansai regions, which could be considered a new form of modern-day migrant work. These workers are used as an employment adjustment valve for the companies they are dispatched to, so their employment is generally unstable. These migrant workers were among those who sought relief in the "New Year's Eve Dispatch Villages" that attracted social attention from the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2009.

Famous examples of migrant workers abroad include those who traveled from Italy, Greece, and Spain to France and Switzerland, and from Ireland to the UK to work in agriculture, construction, and other industries from spring to winter.

Since the 1990s, the number of foreign workers coming to Japan for work has increased, but in many cases, they do not work seasonally but for several years. In Asian countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan, governments have supported and encouraged people to work overseas since the 1970s. Remittances from migrant workers to their home countries are a major source of foreign currency for these countries. Initially, most of these people went to the Middle East, which was booming due to the high oil prices, but in the 1980s, the demand for labor in the Middle East declined due to the slump and fall in oil prices, and the main destination for migrant workers shifted to Japan. The labor shortage caused by the bubble economy at the end of the 1980s and the appreciation of the yen in the 1990s increased the number of foreign migrant workers heading to Japan. The Japanese government prohibits foreign workers from working in simple occupations under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, so there are many foreign workers who work without a regular work visa and are working without a regular work visa. Furthermore, the number of Japanese descendants coming to Japan from Latin America (Brazil, Peru, etc.) is also increasing. The Japanese government allows Japanese descendants and their families to work in any occupation. It is difficult to get an accurate count of the number of foreign migrant workers, including those working outside of their visa status, but the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimates that the number was approximately 920,000 as of 2006.

[Goga Kazumichi]

Folklore

Migrant work has been common since before the development of modern industry, and has a long history. The nature of migrant work has changed and become more complex over the years, but broadly speaking, it can be divided into part-time work and full-time work.

Side jobs are those who work mainly in agriculture but go abroad to work outside the busy farming season. These include those who work as winter servants in the city doing odd jobs during the winter, and those who go abroad to work as craftsmen or traveling merchants. Winter servants are a typical form of migrant work, and began in correlation with the expansion of the labor market due to the development of cities during the Edo period. People came from mountain villages and snowy regions with little production base. For example, there was the "Tamba Hyakunichi" (100 days of service from Tamba to Senba near Osaka), "Shinanomono" (people of Shinano) who went to Edo for a half-term, and rice pounders and sake men from Echigo. There are various types of craftsmen and traveling merchants who go abroad to work as brewers, roofers, lacquer tappers, medicine sellers, tea sellers, and so on. Toji brewers are famous in Tanba and Echigo, and roofers in Aizu. Their techniques are traditionally passed down to villagers, and they often have a continuing relationship with the customers. Examples of peddler are medicine sellers in Toyama, Nara, Shiga, Kagawa, and Okayama, poison antidote sellers in Niigata, and tea sellers in the Tajima region of Hyogo. The above side jobs are common ways to support the family in regions with few work opportunities, and the characteristic of all of them is that the work is different from the main job. Between winter apprenticeship and artisans/peddlers, the latter are more stable in terms of organization and income, and some even switch to full-time work. In addition to these, side jobs include agricultural work such as rice planting, threshing, tea picking, sericulture, and rush grass cutting. The timing of each work differs slightly depending on the area, so they are concentrated in a short period of time. For example, women from the Kashima region of Ibaraki called Kashima women go to neighboring regions to work as rice planters, and many people from Kagawa go to Okayama to cut rush grass.

Full-time migrant workers are seen in the aforementioned craftsmen and peddlers who make this their main occupation, as well as in forestry and fishing. In many cases, the period of migrant work is long, such as throughout the year, and they move from place to place to do their main occupation. Examples of this in the fishing industry include the advance of Kansai fishermen to the Kanto region during the Edo period, the development of the North Sea fishing grounds after the Meiji period, and deep-sea fishing using motorized fishing boats.

[Naoyuki Ogawa]

"The History of the Meiji and Taisho Periods: Social Conditions" (included in The Definitive Collection of Yanagita Kunio 24, 1970, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "The Village Women Cannot Sleep, by Kusano Hisao (1974, Kowado)" ▽ "Migrant Work and Education, by Shima Yuzo (1974, Minshusha)" ▽ "Migrant Work and Rural Life, by Watanabe Sakae and Haneda Arata (1977, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "The Sociology of Migrant Work, by Yamashita Yuzo (1978, Kokusho Kankokai)" ▽ "Migrant Work, New Edition, by Nozoe Kenji (1978, Sanseido)" ▽ "The Economics of Migrant Work, Selected Reprint, by Okawa Kenji (Kinokuniya Shinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

農民などが一定期間居住地を離れて働き、就労期間経過後は居住地に帰る形態をいい、挙家離村や通勤兼業とは区別する。日本の出稼ぎは第二次世界大戦前から多様な形態がみられる。こうしたことから戦前日本の賃労働者の性格を「出稼ぎ型」とする大河内一男(おおこうちかずお)の見解が生まれた。

［伍賀一道］

農業政策と出稼ぎ

第二次世界大戦後、高度成長過程で農民層分解は急速に進み、出稼ぎも増加したが、これは戦前の出稼ぎとは性格を異にする。農業センサスによれば、1960年（昭和35）から1975年にかけて、農業専業従事者は1310万人から657万人へ減少したのに対し、兼業従事者は637万人から867万人へと増加した。このうち出稼ぎ形態の兼業従事者は1960年から1965年にかけて18万人から55万人へ急増したが、その後減少に向かい、兼業形態は出稼ぎから臨時・日雇い形態へ、さらに恒常的勤務形態へ移った。

　出稼ぎ農家が高度成長期に増大した要因として、政府の農業政策の果たした役割は大きい。それは、日本の産業構造を新鋭重化学工業へ転換する政策や地域開発政策と密接な関連をもちながら進められ、資本蓄積を進める大企業のために安価な農家労働力を提供した。農業基本法（昭和36年法律第127号）に基づく農政によって農業機械化は急速に進み、農業労働時間は短縮される一方、低農産物価格政策や資本による農業収奪（化学肥料や農業用機械などの工業製品と農産物との間の不等価交換など）によって農業所得が低迷した。そのため農民は農業経営費と家計費高騰の圧力を受けて農業外の兼業就労を余儀なくされ、農村周辺に就労機会が少ない地域では、働き口を求めて出稼ぎに出ざるをえなくなった。

　高度成長期を通して出稼ぎが多い地域としては東北地方が他を圧倒しており（1963年当時で全国の49.3％）、これに北陸（14.1％）、九州（10.1％）が続いていた。これらの地域は他地域と比べ地域内に雇用機会が乏しく、地域労働市場の形成が弱いという共通の特徴があった。出稼ぎ者のうち9割以上が男子で、その大部分が世帯主ないし後継ぎ層である。彼らの就労先は大都市に集中しており、農林省（現農林水産省）の「出稼ぎ調査結果報告」（1971）によると、京浜地帯に出稼ぎ者全体の47.4％、京阪神地帯に15.8％が就労していた。出稼ぎ先の産業は建設業が圧倒的に多く、これに製造業が続いていた。

　これら出稼ぎ労働者の労働条件は、賃金から社会保障に至る全般にわたって一般の常用労働者と比較し劣悪で、賃金不払いなどの事故も発生した。さらに高速道路やトンネル、ダム工事などでは出稼ぎ労働者が労働災害や塵肺(じんぱい)症などの職業病の犠牲になるケースが後を絶たなかった。だが出稼ぎ者の多くは出稼ぎ先での収入を高めることに専念し、その収入の大部分を家族のもとに送金し、家族の生活や農家経営の資金に充当していた。出稼ぎの恒常化は農村に残された家族にも深刻な影響を与えている。農業や家事の両面の中心になっている主婦には心身ともに重圧がかかり、農夫症などの健康障害を引き起こす一方、子供たちの教育面に与える影響も大きかった。

［伍賀一道］

低成長経済と出稼ぎ

高度成長期の前半に急増した出稼ぎは1960年代後半には減少傾向を示していたが、1970年代から1990年代にかけて減少のテンポをさらに速めた。農林水産省「農家就業動向調査」（後に「農業構造動態調査」と改称）によれば、農家からの出稼ぎ者数は、1973年30.3万人、1980年13.3万人、1990年（平成2）5.9万人、1993年には4.1万人にまで減少した。厚生労働省は出稼ぎ労働者を農家世帯員に限定しないで、「1か月以上1年未満居住地を離れて他に雇用されて就労する者で、その就労期間経過後は居住地に帰る者」と定義して調査しているが、これによれば出稼ぎ労働者は1971～1972年の約55万人をピークに年を追って減少している（1983年約29万人、1998年約11万人、2002年約5万人）。

　このように出稼ぎが急減した理由としては、1970年代なかば以降の低成長経済下の雇用調整によって製造業の出稼ぎ先企業で人員整理が進んだこと、建設工事が停滞したこと、出稼ぎ者の高齢化が進んだことなどがあげられる。出稼ぎの地域別分布は高度成長期と同様、東北地方がもっとも多いが、北陸・九州地方は大幅に減少した。厚生労働省「出稼労働者雇用等実態調査」（2005）によれば出稼労働者を雇用している事業所の産業別構成は建設業が73.2％に対し、製造業は18.2％である。事業所規模別構成では30人未満の小零細事業所が7割を占めている。なお、同調査はこれ以降廃止された。

　離職時の失業給付について、かつての失業保険法では出稼ぎ者にも一般労働者と同様の適用が行われていたが、雇用保険法（昭和49年法律第116号）に転換して以降は、離職時に短期雇用特例被保険者に対する特例一時金（失業給付の日額の50日分）が支給されるだけとなった。

　21世紀に入ったころより、北海道や東北、沖縄など地元に就職機会の少ない地域から、人材仲介業者を通して派遣労働者や請負労働者として、3か月～半年間の短期雇用契約で関東、東海、関西地域の工場などで働く人々が増えており、現代の新たな出稼ぎといえよう。派遣先企業の雇用調整弁として活用されているため、概して雇用は不安定である。2008年末から2009年初めにかけて社会的に注目された「年越し派遣村」に救済を求めた人々のなかにはこのような出稼ぎ労働者も含まれていた。

　外国における出稼ぎの例としては、イタリアやギリシア、スペインからフランスやスイスへ、アイルランドからイギリスへ出かけて、春から冬にかけて農業や建設業などで働く出稼ぎ労働者（外国人労働者）が有名であった。

　1990年代以降、日本に出稼ぎにくる外国人労働者が増加しているが、この場合は季節的就労ではなく、数年にわたるケースが多い。フィリピン、タイ、パキスタンなどのアジア諸国では、1970年代以降、政府が支援して海外への出稼ぎを奨励してきた。出稼ぎ労働者の本国への送金はこれらの国にとって有力な外貨の獲得手段である。当初、石油価格の高騰で活況を呈した中東諸国への出稼ぎが主流を占めたが、1980年代に入ると石油価格の低迷・下落によって中東諸国での労働力需要が減退したため、おもな出稼ぎ先は日本に移った。1980年代末のバブル経済によって労働力不足が生じたこと、1990年代に円高が進んだことが、日本を目ざす外国人出稼ぎ労働者を増加させた。日本政府は、単純職種への外国人労働者の就労を入管法（出入国管理及び難民認定法）によって禁止しているため、正規の就労ビザを所有しないで就労している資格外就労の外国人労働者も多い。さらに、中南米（ブラジルやペルーなど）から日本にくる日系人の出稼ぎ労働者も増加している。日系人とその家族については、日本政府は職種を問わずその就労を認めている。資格外就労を含む外国人出稼ぎ労働者の数を正確に把握することは困難であるが、厚生労働省の推計では2006年の時点で約92万人に上っている。

［伍賀一道］

民俗

出稼ぎは近代産業が発達する以前から一般的に行われ、その歴史は古く、また出稼ぎの様相は各時代によって変容し、複雑化しているが、大別すれば副業的出稼ぎと専業的出稼ぎとに分けられる。

　副業的出稼ぎというのは、おもに農業を主業としながら農繁期以外に出稼ぎをするもので、これには冬場奉公人などといわれて冬季に都市の家事雑役に従事するたぐいと、職人や行商人として出稼ぎをするたぐいなどがある。冬場奉公人のたぐいは典型的な出稼ぎのあり方で、江戸時代の都市の発達による労働市場の拡大と相関して始まった。生産基盤の乏しい山村や雪国からの出稼ぎで、たとえば「丹波(たんば)百日」といい丹波から大坂周辺の船場(せんば)への百日奉公、江戸へ半期奉公に出た「信濃(しなの)者」、越後(えちご)からの米搗(つ)き、酒男などがあった。職人や行商人としての出稼ぎには杜氏(とうじ)、屋根屋、漆掻(か)き、薬売り、茶売りなど各種がある。杜氏は丹波や越後、屋根屋は会津が有名で、その技術は村人に伝統的に継承され、需要者とは継続した関係にある場合が多い。行商では富山・奈良・滋賀・香川・岡山の薬売り、新潟の毒消し売り、兵庫の但馬(たじま)地方の茶売りなどがある。以上の副業的出稼ぎは、労働機会が乏しい地方では家計維持の一般的方法として行われ、いずれも労働内容は主業とは異なる職種につくのが特色である。冬場奉公と職人・行商人とでは、後者のほうが出稼ぎ組織や収入面でより安定しており、なかには専業的出稼ぎへと転じている場合もある。副業的出稼ぎにはこれらのほかに、田植、代(しろ)掻き、茶摘み、養蚕、藺(い)草刈りといった農作業につく場合もある。土地によって各作業時期がすこしずつずれていることによっており、短期間に集中して行われる。たとえば茨城の鹿島(かしま)地方からは鹿島女といって女が近隣地方へ田植の出稼ぎに出かけ、香川からは岡山へ藺草刈りに多くの人が行くなど各地にみられる。

　専業的出稼ぎは、先述の職人や行商人がこれを主業にした場合や、林業、漁業にみられる。出稼ぎ期間は通年など長期の場合が多く、いわば主業を場所をかえながら行うという形である。たとえば漁業では、江戸時代の関西漁民の関東への進出、明治時代以降の北海漁場の開発、動力漁船による遠洋漁業などがこれにあたる。

［小川直之］

『『明治大正史世相篇』（『定本柳田国男集24』所収・1970・筑摩書房）』▽『草野比佐男著『村の女は眠れない』（1974・光和堂）』▽『嶋祐三著『出稼ぎと教育』（1974・民衆社）』▽『渡辺栄・羽田新著『出稼ぎ労働と農村の生活』（1977・東京大学出版会）』▽『山下雄三著『出稼ぎの社会学』（1978・国書刊行会）』▽『野添憲治著『出稼ぎ』新版（1978・三省堂）』▽『大川健嗣著『出稼ぎの経済学』精選復刻（紀伊國屋新書）』