Systematization of Establishment and Enterprise Surveys in Japan

　The systematization of establishment and enterprise surveys in Japan is in progress. The establishment and enterprise surveys in Japan prior to 2012 were based on individual surveys of industries under the jurisdiction of each ministry or agency, which resulted in overlaps and omissions in the coverage of each other's survey and also in disparities in the survey cycle. This issue was especially prominent for the service industry. As the economy became more service-oriented, there was a growing demand for a more accurate picture of the economy as a whole, and since around 2000 efforts for systematizing the establishment and enterprise surveys were initiated. Furthermore, the decision was made to shift from input-output tables to supply and use tables, and the collection of new data to realize supply and use tables was also requested. After overcoming many difficulties, the "Economic Census-Activity Survey" and the "Annual Business Survey" were launched respectively in 2012 and 2019. In 2025, the "Monthly Business Survey of Services" is to be launched, which will thereafter be organized and integrated with five-yearly, annual, and monthly establishment and enterprise censuses. It is widely understood that such a large-scale reform will not be easily achieved, but the process of its realization would probably not be well known. In this paper, we clarify the process of systematization of establishment and enterprise surveys that took place in Japan.

 

Keywords: establishment and enterprise surveys, economic census, service economy, supply and use tables

JEL Classification: C82，C83

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Efforts for further development of the Statistical Business Register in Japan

　Economic statistics are indispensable to understanding and analyzing the actual economic situation. In order to produce economic statistics that meet various needs, statistical surveys are conducted by governments. Population information on businesses are essential for conducting such economic statistical surveys. The Statistical Business Register (SBR) is a database to maintain basic information on businesses in Japan, such as establishment names, contact information, number of employees, and sales, and to provide the statistical survey conductors with population information on businesses. This enables statistical surveys to be conducted, and if it is a sampling survey, population restoration can be performed to produce statistics. In other words, the SBR is the backbone in the production of economic statistics.
　This report provides an overview of the SBR, which supports the foundation of economic statistics, and introduces recent efforts made by the Statistics Bureau of Japan to develop the SBR, including efforts to expand the coverage of the SBR using administrative data in 2019 and efforts to improve the update frequency of the SBR since 2023.

 

Keywords: Economic Census, Annual Business Survey, Establishment and Enterprise Inquiry, administrative data

JEL Classification: C81，C82，C83

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Toward Improving the Accuracy of Wage Statistics: Initiatives to Revitalize the Monthly Labour Survey and Future Challenges

　The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has been working to improve the accuracy of the Monthly Labour Survey in response to growing criticism of the accuracy of the survey and the occurrence of vital statistical error problems. A series of initiatives has resulted in reducing the wage differences caused by sample revisions through the introduction of rotation sampling. However, a certain level of difference has remained, bringing about year-on-year fluctuations in wages. This is because the accuracy of the statistics themselves has not improved, despite the increase in the sample size of establishments surveyed. The effect of the increase in the sample size of small and medium-sized establishments with 30 to 499 employees to be surveyed is not clear. During this period, the upward bias in the ratio of part-time employees to total regular employees has been noticeably widened in recent years, pushing down the year-on-year change in total cash wages of the total regular employees, which is highly notable as the published headline series. The occurrence of new errors has become an obstacle to the accurate grasp of wage trends. In this regard, the newly released "Year-on-Year Comparison by Common Establishments" series (the year-on-year comparison based on the matched sample, which is defined as all sample units that have reported data for the reference month and the preceding month of the previous year) is useful for identifying wage trends because its fluctuations are smaller than those of the headline series and it avoids the bias effect of the ratio of part-time employees.

 

Keywords: Monthly Labour Survey, wages, rotation sampling, sample error, matched sample

JEL Classification:C83，J31

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Consumption Trend Index as a Business Cycle Indicator

　The business cycle has been viewed as a "common fluctuation factor" in the economy as a whole. However, in recent years, there has been a growing tendency to interpret the business cycle as a change in the "aggregate level" of economic activity. In this new way of thinking regarding the business cycle, the role of indicators to grasp trends in household consumption will be enhanced. In particular, it is desirable to capture consumption trends from the demand side that allows for a flexible breakdown of factors such as household attributes to grasp the comprehensive trend in household consumption as a whole.
　So far, only the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) has been available as a demand-side consumption indicator. However, it has not been fully utilized as a business cycle indicator because it has not achieved the level of accuracy required to judge the business cycle situation. In response to this issue, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) began publishing the "Consumption Trends Index (CTI micro)" in 2018, which is to be calculated by combining the FIES with the "Single Household Expenditure Monitor Survey" and the "Survey of Household Economy".
　The CTI micro is an important statistic for understanding trends in average household consumption. However, as the percentage of single-person households rises and the number of households increases, demographic trends have a strong influence, and macro consumption trends cannot be properly understood. Therefore, in this paper, we examined the use of the "population-adjusted CTI micro" as an economic indicator by adding information on the number of households obtained from the Labor Force Survey to the CTI micro.
　The population-adjusted CTI micro can trace Household Final Consumption Expenditures in the GDP statistics over a relatively long period of time. It allows for a flexible breakdown that makes it more desirable than the CTI macro, which only estimates total consumption in a single series. Although irregular monthly fluctuations are relatively large, it is an effective business cycle indicator that can sensitively detect changes in economic conditions.

 

Keywords: Cycle, Consumption Trend Index, Family Income and Expenditure Survey, Consumption Statistics

JEL Classification: D12，C81，C83

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Trends in Disparity Indicators

　The Gini coefficient and the relative poverty rate are representative inequality indices, which are measured and published with aggregate value from the “Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions”, the “Survey on the Redistribution of Income”, and the “National Family Structure Survey (formerly the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure)”, but the figures are known to differ depending on which statistics are used. This paper compares these statistics, focusing on the Gini coefficient of income and the relative poverty rate, and finds that the statistics share a common tendency that income inequality, as measured by market-generated income, widened in the 2010s, but that redistribution has reduced the growth of income inequality. The trend that figures from the “Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions” and the “Survey on the Redistribution of Income” are higher than those obtained from the “National Family Structure Survey” has remained unchanged over time. The “Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions”, the “Survey on the Redistribution of Income”, and the “National Family Structure Survey” diverge for the younger and older age groups and for single-person households. In light of these results, it is still necessary to combine multiple statistics for observing inequality indicators.

 

Keywords:income inequality, Gini coefficient, relative poverty rate

JEL Classification: I31，I32

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Utilization of Official Statistics on Foreign Workers in Japan

　With the rapid increase in foreign workers in Japan, the demand for official statistics to better capture their work and lives has grown. In response, an item on the status of residence was added to the "Basic Survey on Wage Structure" in 2019, and the "Survey on Employment Situation of Foreign Workers" was newly conducted in 2023. This paper summarizes the new findings obtained from recently developed these official statistics. In addition, it discusses the characteristics and considerations for using the existing statistics on the entry, stay, and employment of foreign nationals, including " Statistics on Legal Migrants," "Statistics on Foreign Nationals," "Population Census," and "Notification of Employment Status of Foreign Nationals." By covering both existing and new statistics, this study not only highlights their interrelationship but also demonstrates the usefulness of the new statistics. However, none of the statistics can accurately capture the employment status of foreign nationals. It is essential to use each statistic with an understanding of its scope and limitations.

 

Keywords: foreign workers, Statistics on Foreign Nationals, Population Census, Notification of Employment Status of Foreign Nationals, Basic Survey on Wage Structure

JEL Classification: J11，J15，J21，Y10

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Current and Future Trends in Disability Statistics

　Following Japan’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2014) and its subsequent adoption at the 49th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (2018), the enhancement of disability statistics within Japanese government data has emerged as a critical issue. This paper examines contemporary domestic and international trends in disability statistics, evaluates the definition and actual circumstances of persons with disabilities by comparing existing disability statistics with newly introduced survey items, and explores key challenges and future possibilities for disability-related statistical frameworks. According to the most recent data, the number of individuals classified as "persons with disabilities under the legal system" in Japan stands at 11.65 million, whereas the estimated number of persons with disabilities (aged 15 and over) in an international comparative framework is 14.3 million.
　However, due to conceptual discrepancies between these two classifications, the overlap between them is only 35%. Given that the definition of persons with disabilities is intrinsically linked to the conceptual framework and target population of disability policy, it is essential to distinguish between the application of internationally standardized definitions and the assessment of national policies.
　Furthermore, because traditional disability statistics exhibit inconsistencies in subjects and response criteria, a systematic approach is needed to harmonize various conceptualizations of disability, including international comparative standards, to ensure a more comprehensive and analytically robust framework for disability-related research and policy evaluation.

 

Keywords: Disability statistics, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Reasonable accommodation, Employment policy for persons with disabilities

JEL Classification: J14，J18，J78

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