Suicides linked to work-related stress up in Japan

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
26 may 2008--The number of people who committed suicide or tried to in Japan because of work-related stress has doubled in the last five years, a government report said, illustrating the growing anxiety many here feel from increased workloads and competition.
The Health Ministry report said 81 people committed suicide or tried to commit suicide because of stress at work in fiscal year 2007 — up from 66 in 2006 and 40 in 2003. It did not specifically say how many of the 81 committed suicide.
The report also found that a record high 268 people — including the 81 — developed work-related mental conditions such as depression. The report was published Saturday in Japanese newspapers.
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. About 32,160 people killed themselves in 2006 — the latest government statistics available for a full year. The report comes as the country battles a series of suicide fads including the latest string that involves people mixing household chemicals to create lethal fumes.
People in their 30s and 40s were most prone to stress due to working too many hours or personal relationships at work, the report said. Some of the workers had worked about 160 hours of overtime a month, it said. A typical work week in Japan is 40 hours.
"Many people endure their sufferings alone, trying not to show their weakness" to colleagues, the mainstream newspaper Yomiuri said in a commentary. "We urge employers to work harder to create a stress-free working environment."
The report based its findings on the number of people who committed suicide or attempt to whose families received workers compensation for their deaths or injuries.
Under the Japanese labor law, an employer has to pay compensation to employees or their families for work-related accidents, illnesses and deaths. The families of suicide victims fill out applications to receive the compensation, and the government determines their eligibility.
If illnesses or deaths are proven to be work-related, employees or their families can receive a one-time payment or an annual stipend based on his or her base salary.
Separately, the government granted workers compensation last year to 392 other people who had strokes, heart attacks and other brain and cardiac illnesses, including 142 who died.
Most of the cardiac and brain patients were people who worked excessively long hours, the report said.
More than one-third of them reported working between 80 and 100 hours of overtime a month, with another 25 percent saying they worked between 100 and 120 hours of overtime monthly. About 10 percent of them did more than 160 hours of overtime, or an average of five extra hours a day, including the weekend.
Under the Health Ministry guidelines, the family an employee who died after filing monthly overtime of 80 hours or more is usually entitled to receive compensation.