Japan Post to Set Up Staffing Agency

Japan Post Corp., the planning company for the breakup and privatization of state-owned Japan Post, plans to establish a wholly owned staffing agency as early as July, Jiji Press learned Saturday.

The move is aimed at securing part-time workers on a stable basis in order to allow the Japan Post group to utilize such employees after the scheduled breakup and privatization in October.

Japan Post is currently employing hundreds of thousands of part-timers as postal sorting and delivery workers and clerks at post offices across the country.

As a result of a cutback on the recruitment of full-time workers and the promotion of an early retirement program as part of cost reduction efforts, part-time workers have became indispensable to maintain Japan Post’s services.

However, Japan Post is now having difficulties recruiting part-time workers, mainly in urban areas, as Japan’s economic recovery has led to a rise in job offers by private companies.

This has forced Japan Post to raise hourly wages for its part-time workers for some regions and start using workers dispatched by staffing agencies at post offices in areas around Tokyo and the Kinki western Japan region for the first time ever.