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The Yomiuri Shimbun (Nov. 30, 2009)
New growth strategy needed to protect jobs
（11月30日付・読売社説）

At the end of last year, a large number of manufacturers across the nation fired temporary workers even before their work contracts expired. To help those who lost jobs, a civic group set up a tent camp, called Toshikoshi Hakenmura (village for temporary workers to see out the old year), in Tokyo's Hibiya Park. A year later, the country's employment situation has grown even more serious.
　昨年暮れは製造業の派遣切りが続き、日比谷公園に「年越し派遣村」ができた。１年たった今、雇用情勢は一段と深刻化している。

How effective will the government's emergency employment measures be? The government must do all it can to alleviate the severe employment situation as the year-end approaches.
　政府の緊急雇用対策は、どれだけの効果が期待できるか。年の瀬を前に、政府は雇用対策に全力を挙げなければならない。

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Situation in rural areas bleak
　◆深刻な地方へのしわ寄せ◆

Kitakami, a city located in the southwest of Iwate Prefecture, has some of the leading industrial parks in the country. Blessed with vast plains and abundant water, the city capitalizes on its good location connected to an expressway.
　岩手県の南西部に位置する北上市は、全国有数の工業団地を持つ。広大な平野と豊かな水資源に恵まれ、高速道路も整備された立地条件の良さが売り物である。

With a large number of leading companies having set up plants there, the city until recently enjoyed a reputation as having successful industrial parks where a variety of industries are concentrated. Yet the tide of recession is sweeping toward the city.
　大企業が次々と進出し、産業集積が進んだ成功例とされるが、その北上市にも、景気悪化の荒波が押し寄せている。

At Iwate Toshiba Electronics Co., a Toshiba Corp. subsidiary located in an industrial park in the northern part of the city, a vast plot of land lies vacant next to the firm's semiconductor plant.
　市内北部の工業団地にある東芝子会社の岩手東芝エレクトロニクス。稼働中の半導体工場の横には広い敷地が残されたままだ。

Toshiba announced in 2008 it would build a new plant in Kitakami to produce cutting-edge NAND flash memory products. But the firm decided early this year to postpone construction of the plant due to flagging sales of semiconductors and a serious downturn in business. The site for the planned flash memory plant will soon see its second winter.
　東芝は２００８年、最先端のＮＡＮＤ型フラッシュメモリーの北上新工場を建設すると発表した。ところが、今年初め、半導体不況と業績悪化を理由に建設を延期した。新工場は着工されず２度目の冬を迎えようとしている。

Under the initial plan, the plant was scheduled to start operation in spring 2010 and employ about 1,000 new workers.
　計画通りならば、来春以降に稼働し、１０００人規模の新規雇用が見込まれていた。

About three years ago, the ratio of job offers to job seekers in the city rose to about 1.9 thanks to companies that flooded to the city to open new plants. As a result, the city ran short of workers. But now, the job-offers-to-job-seekers ratio has nosedived to about 0.3. Kitakami Mayor Akira Ito awaits the day when Toshiba decides to start the construction.
　北上市は約３年前、企業進出ラッシュで有効求人倍率が１・９倍程度まで上昇し、人手不足の時期もあった。それが今や、約０・３倍に急落した。伊藤彬市長は、東芝の着工決断を待つ日々だ。

The mayor has been visiting companies with branches in the city, asking them to hire even one more employee, in what he calls his "plus one" campaign.
　「プラスワン」作戦――。一人でも多くの採用を求める陳情攻勢を市長はそう名付け、地元に進出した企業を回り続ける。

This situation is not confined in Kitakami, but can be seen across the country. NEC Corp. has closed its liquid crystal panel plant in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, while Honda Motor Co. postponed operation of its new plant in Yoriimachi, Saitama Prefecture.
　こうした状況は北上に限らない。ＮＥＣの液晶パネル工場閉鎖（鹿児島県出水市）、ホンダの新工場稼働延期（埼玉県寄居町）など、全国で相次いでいる。

Listed companies' midterm earnings reports for the period ending in September showed that their business performance is improving. But they are still cautious about making capital investments as they strive to cut costs to be globally competitive.
　上場企業の今年９月中間決算は、業績改善を裏付けた。しかし、グローバル競争を勝ち抜くため、各社は、コスト削減を徹底しており、設備投資には慎重だ。

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry announced Friday that the number of jobless people was 3.44 million in October, while the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1 percent. The nation's job-offers-to-job-seekers ratio remains at a low level, at a seasonally adjusted 0.44.
　総務省が２７日発表した１０月の完全失業者は３４４万人で、完全失業率は５・１％だった。全国の有効求人倍率も０・４４倍と、低水準が続いている。

Under its slogan of "From concrete to people," the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatomaya touts a policy shift that allocates taxpayers' money to programs related to people's lives, rather than to public works programs, as was seen in the past. This policy shift has slashed the number of public works projects, which local economies rely heavily on, dealing a heavy blow to the economies, which were already suffering from the ongoing wave of corporate restructuring.
　鳩山政権は、「コンクリートから人へ」の政策転換を掲げる。頼みの公共工事が激減したうえ、企業リストラも加わり、特に地方経済にはダブルパンチである。

The government, which compiled emergency employment measures in October, has begun studying additional employment measures for inclusion in the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009.
　政府は、１０月に緊急雇用対策をまとめたのに続き、２００９年度第２次補正予算に盛り込む追加雇用対策を検討し始めた。

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