Japanese Scientists Face Mass Job Loss Crisis...Foundation of Basic Science Power Shaken [Reading Science]

Starting April Next Year, 10-Year Contract Workers to Become Regular Employees
Universities and Research Institutes Preemptively 'Cut Ties'
Resignations Urged and Contracts Terminated One After Another
Up to 4,000 Jobs May Be Lost
Japanese Scientific Community Expresses Concern Over "Long-Term Research Capability Loss"

The RIKEN Institute, established in 1917, known as the "cradle of the Japanese Nobel Prize."

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The foundation of Japan, a powerhouse in basic science, is shaking. Unlike in the past when retirement was guaranteed, scientists, researchers, and university professors are now suffering from job insecurity, making long-term and stable research impossible, experts say.

According to the international academic journal Nature on the 20th, Japan revised its law between 2013 and 2014 to allow contract researchers working at universities and research institutes for more than 10 years to demand regular employment. The rationale was to provide employment security to enable long-term and stable research. From April next year, contract researchers under fixed-term contracts are scheduled to be converted to regular employees under this law.

However, the reality is going in the opposite direction. Recently, universities and research institutes in Japan have frequently terminated contracts or requested resignations from these researchers before the 10-year mark.

According to Nature, about 3,100 researchers at dozens of national universities and research institutes in Japan will reach the end of their 10-year contract period starting next April. Only some of them will be able to secure regular employment, while many are expected to lose their jobs. Some even predict that about 4,500 researchers will become unemployed after April next year due to this situation.

If a mass layoff of researchers materializes, it could be a fatal blow to Japan's science and technology research. The number of students entering doctoral programs in Japan has already been declining since 2003. If conversion to regular employment after a 10-year long-term contract becomes impossible, this number will decrease further, delivering a critical blow to the supply of personnel who are the driving force behind Japan's basic science research.

A source from the Japanese scientific community expressed concern, saying, "If regularization after a 10-year employment contract fails and job insecurity increases, it is certain to lead to a long-term decline in Japan's scientific research capabilities."

Some researchers have already begun to face visible unemployment. Recently, a university researcher was notified of dismissal by the school. The union of RIKEN, Japan's leading research institute, also revealed through its own investigation that 203 researchers are at risk of losing their jobs, and with the closure of 42 research teams, 177 related research jobs will disappear in a chain reaction.

An anonymous researcher told Nature, "I have worked an enormous amount of unpaid overtime, but in the end, nothing came back," criticizing, "This situation is a tremendous loss of trust."