July 31, 2026: Minutes of the First Working Group Meeting
Overview
At its first meeting, the Working Group discussed survey methods and next steps, improvements to publication methods, the transition to the 14th Japan Standard Industrial Classification, the results of the FY2025 research project, and the direction of future deliberations. Members commented on how published series should be presented, comparisons between old and new classifications, surveyor workload and response rates, and sample design. The Secretariat said it would prepare materials for future meetings based on the comments.
Key points
- Five or six Working Group meetings were planned from this fiscal year through the next.
- A proposal was presented to make regular and part-time workers the headline categories for published wage and working-hours data.
- The issues in transitioning to the 14th Japan Standard Industrial Classification included linking the classifications, identifying continuing establishments, and tabulation methods.
- A draft policy was presented to continue examining stratification criteria, integration of local surveys, ways to improve response rates, and measures to reduce surveyor workload in light of the research findings.
Overview
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare established the Working Group to examine issues in the Monthly Labour Survey, including discontinuities caused by sample rotation and surveyor workload. The statistics are used in the government's economic policy and analysis of wage trends.
The first meeting covered the way forward, improvements to publication methods, the transition to the 14th Japan Standard Industrial Classification, the results of the FY2025 research project, and future policy.
The Secretariat outlined a proposal to hold five or six meetings from this fiscal year through the next. The second meeting is expected to cover the benchmark update and other matters; the third is expected to produce an interim report on publication methods and classification changes; and the fourth through sixth meetings will address accuracy improvements and workload reduction. User interviews will also be conducted by the second meeting.
Details
Under the proposal for publication methods, wage and working-hours data would shift from centering on the total across employment types to featuring the actual figures, indexes, and rates of change for regular and part-time workers as the headline, while also showing the common-establishment series. Publication of the total across employment types would continue, and real wages would remain reported for the total across employment types as before. Members proposed displaying both categories side by side, explaining the differences between the series and their intended uses, and noting the sample size of the common-establishment series.
A proposal was presented to make the main series and common-establishment series easier to find on e-Stat and group the reference series under “Other.” The proposal also called for adding quarterly and annual figures and a quick reference table to the cumulative actual-figures and index data, discontinuing the long-term time series table, and presenting the benchmark figures more clearly. Members asked that usage be checked before any series are removed and that information be disclosed to allow discontinued series to be reproduced.
In connection with the January 2024 benchmark update, proposals were presented for a reference series to resolve inconsistencies between indexes and rates of change, and for a calculation method to align employment indexes for regular and part-time workers with the part-time worker ratio. Members asked for the processing to be explained with formulas, and the Secretariat said it would prepare materials for the next meeting.
The 14th Japan Standard Industrial Classification took effect in April 2024. Classifications changed for areas such as retail sales of electricity and gas, disinfection services, and wrecker and roadside assistance services. For the Monthly Labour Survey, issues included linking the old and new classifications, identifying the classifications of continuing establishments, and handling sampling rates, bonuses, and annual tabulations. One-third of establishments in the first category are rotated each January. Members requested comparisons between the old and new classifications, consideration of workload, and a summary of the benefits and challenges of each option.
The FY2025 research project examined preliminary and main surveys conducted without surveyors, response burden and how to handle establishments that did not submit responses, and improvements to sampling and estimation. The preliminary survey identified the use of the Establishment and Enterprise Census database and information verification as challenges. For the main survey, the findings indicated that surveyor continuity affects response rates. The project also considered an input support tool that does not use macros, email reminders, and stronger follow-up requests.
Measures to improve accuracy included a proposal to raise the threshold for the census stratum from 500 or more to 1,000 or more, consolidating or further detailing industrial classifications used for stratification, integrating local surveys into the national survey, and adjusting estimates for strata with low response rates. The research also found a tendency for discontinuities to be larger in service industries and categories with high part-time worker ratios. A draft policy was presented to continue deliberations, broaden the scope of verification, and organize the required work, staffing, and budget.