Thousands of researchers who have signed fixed-term contracts with universities and research institutes may be suspended at the end of March 2023. Universities, research institutes, and the Japan Academy of Sciences have issued a statement that they need to work together to resolve the issue.
According to the Japan Academy of Sciences, the 2013 revision of the Labor Contract Law gave fixed-term workers the right to convert to permanent employment when the labor contract exceeds five years, but researchers have a period to convert to permanent employment contracts. It is expected that the number of researchers will change from 5 to 5 years, and the 10-year term will expire at the end of March 2023.
Universities and research institutes are individually working to deal with this situation, and while there is a uniform movement to allow conversion to indefinite contracts, there are also movements to stop hiring in order not to allow indefinite conversion.
Suspension of hiring is expected not only to stall ongoing research, but also to prevent the younger generation from finding hope in research positions.An extremely serious situation will occur in order to improve Japan's research capabilities.
The Science Council of Japan Secretariat pointed out that establishing an employment maintenance system and securing financial resources are indispensable for solving this problem, and it is difficult to solve it by individual institutions.He emphasizes that the government, universities, research institutes, and the Science Council of Japan need to share the seriousness of the situation and come up with a drastic solution to avoid the worst.
