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Concept
Freeter
Summary
In Japan, a freeter is a person who is unemployed or lacks full-time employment, excluding housewives and students. Freeters average 15 to 34 years of age.
Freeters may also be described as underemployed. These people do not start a career after high school or university, but instead earn money from low-paid jobs.
The word freeter or freeta is thought to be a portmanteau of the English word free (or perhaps freelance) and the German word Arbeiter ("labourer"). Arubaito is a Japanese loanword from Arbeiter, and perhaps from Arbeit ("work"). As German (along with English) was used in Japanese universities before World War II, especially for science and medicine, arubaito became common among students to describe part-time work for university students.
This term was coined by part-time job magazine From A editor Michishita Hiroshi in 1987 and was used to depict a "free" worker that worked less hours, earned pay hourly instead of a monthly paycheck like regular full time workers, and received none of the benefits of a regular full time worker (holiday pay, sick pay, bonus pay, paid leave).
The meaning of the term switched connotations from positive to negative after the Japanese asset price bubble broke resulting in a recession in the 1990s. In the 1980s, the term was seen in a positive light signifying the freedom to explore other alternative options for employment for fun when the economy in Japan was prosperous with many different job opportunities. In the 1990s and 2000s, the term switched to a negative connotation and Freeters were seen as burdens on society.
The increase of Freeters in the 1990s and 2000s is associated with the subsequent rapid changes that the nation has undergone since the bursting of the economic bubble at the beginning of the 1990s and the increasing neoliberalization of the economy. The almost two decade recession urged companies to change their workforce policies to stay relevant in the global market.
Official source
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