Day laborer - Hiyatoirodousha

A day laborer is a worker who has a daily employment contract with a company. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' Labor Force Survey and Basic Survey on Employment Structure, a day laborer is defined as "a person employed on a daily or less than one month employment contract" and is distinguished from a temporary worker who is "employed on an employment contract of one month to one year," but in reality the distinction between the two is unclear. Even if the employment contract states that the person is a day laborer, it is not uncommon for the employment to be long-term and last for several years or more. Day laborers are one of the most representative forms of unstable employment, with irregular work schedules and poor working conditions, including wages, compared to regular employment. In addition, workers who worked in the emergency unemployment countermeasures business established based on the Emergency Unemployment Measures Act (Act No. 89 of 1949) are sometimes called day laborers.

According to the Basic Survey on Employment Structure, the number of day laborers has been increasing since the high-growth period of the 1960s, and has increased sharply since the late 1970s when the economy turned to low growth (892,000 in 1971, 1,639,000 in 1979, and 1,551,000 in 1982). This is because companies actively increased unstable employment such as day laborers and temporary workers, instead of restricting the hiring of regular permanent workers. The number of day laborers has been gradually decreasing since the 1980s, while the number of temporary workers has been steadily increasing. At the peak of day laborers in 1979 (Showa 54), the construction industry had the largest number of day laborers (1,639,000 people), followed by manufacturing (318,000 people, 19.4%) and wholesale and retail (214,000 people, 13.1%). The construction industry has incorporated many day laborers into the lower layers of its multi-layered subcontracting structure.

The Airin district of Osaka (formerly Airin district, Kamagasaki), San'ya district of Tokyo, Kotobukicho district of Yokohama, and Sasajima district of Nagoya were typical areas with a concentration of day laborers, mainly in the construction industry, from the 1960s to the 1980s. At their peak, it was estimated that there were about 21,000 day laborers in the Airin district, and about 11,000 in San'ya. In these areas, in addition to local offices of the Public Employment Security Office, illegal job placement agents (private employment agencies) were involved in the placement of day laborers. The employment of day laborers is greatly affected by the number of job openings and the weather, and if they cannot find work, they are forced to skip meals or sleep outdoors. Since the long recession of the 1990s, the number of elderly day laborers who cannot work has increased in these areas, and many of them have become homeless.

According to the 2009 Labor Force Survey, the breakdown of the 54.6 million employees by employment status is as follows: 47.09 million (86.2%) permanent employees, 6.47 million (13.7%) temporary employees, and 1.04 million (1.9%) day laborers. "Day labor dispatch" (dispatched workers employed daily), which became a social problem in the early 21st century, is a new form of day laborer.

[Goga Kazumichi]

"Sanya" by Eguchi Eiichi et al. (1979, Miraisha)" ▽ "Unstable Employment in Modern Japan (revised and expanded edition) by Kato Yuji (1991, Ochanomizu Shobo)" ▽ "Reportage: The Bottom - Unstable Employment and Homelessness" by Ikuta Takeshi (2007, Chikuma Shobo) ▽ "Day Labor Dispatch" by Saito Takao of the Dispatch Union (2007, Shunposha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

企業と日々雇用契約を結び就労する労働者をいう。総務省の「労働力調査」や「就業構造基本調査」では「日々または1か月未満の雇用契約で雇われている者」を日雇と定義し、「1か月以上1年以内の雇用契約で雇われている」臨時雇と区別しているが、実際には両者の区分はあいまいである。雇用契約上は日雇であっても、事実上長期雇用化し、数年以上に及ぶケースも珍しくない。日雇労働者は不安定雇用の代表的形態の一つで、正規雇用に比較し就労は不規則で、賃金をはじめ労働条件は劣悪である。なお、緊急失業対策法（昭和24年法律第89号）に基づいて設けられた緊急失業対策事業に就労していた労働者を日雇とよぶことがある。

　「就業構造基本調査」によれば、日雇労働者は1960年代の高度成長期から増加を続け、とくに低成長経済に転じた1970年代後半以降に急増した（1971年89.2万人、1979年163.9万人、1982年155.1万人）。これは企業が正規常用労働者の雇用を抑制するかわりに日雇労働者や臨時雇などの不安定雇用を積極的に増加させたためである。日雇労働者は1980年代以降漸減傾向にあるのに対し、臨時雇は一貫して増加している。ピーク時にあたる1979年（昭和54）の日雇労働者（163.9万人）の産業別内訳は建設業（72.3万人、44.1％）でもっとも多く、製造業（31.8万人、19.4％）、卸売・小売業（21.4万人、13.1％）がこれに続いている。建設業では重層的下請構造の下層に多くの日雇労働者を組み込んできた。

　大阪・あいりん地区（旧愛隣地区、釜ヶ崎）、東京・山谷地区、横浜・寿町地区および名古屋・笹島地区は、1960年代から1980年代にかけて建設業を中心とする日雇労働者の代表的集積地域であった。最盛期には、あいりん地区に推定で約2.1万人の日雇労働者が、山谷に約1.1万人が集中していた。これらの地域では日雇労働者の就労斡旋(あっせん)に公共職業安定所の出先機関のほかに違法な手配師（私設職業紹介業者）が関与していた。日雇労働者の就労は求人数のほかに天候によっても大きく左右され、仕事につけない場合には食事を抜いたり、野宿を余儀なくされる。これらの地域では1990年代の長期不況以降、就労できない高齢日雇労働者が増加し、ホームレスとなる人たちも少なくない。

　なお、2009年（平成21）「労働力調査」によれば、雇用者5460万人の従業上の地位別内訳は、常雇4709万人（86.2％）、臨時雇647万人（13.7％）、日雇104万人（1.9％）である。21世紀初頭に社会問題となった「日雇派遣」（日々雇用の派遣労働者）は日雇労働者の新たな形態である。

［伍賀一道］

『江口英一他著『山谷』（1979・未来社）』▽『加藤佑治著『現代日本における不安定就業労働者（増補改訂版）』（1991・御茶の水書房）』▽『生田武志著『ルポ・最底辺――不安定就労と野宿』（2007・筑摩書房）』▽『派遣ユニオン・斎藤貴男著『日雇い派遣』（2007・旬報社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例