2017 Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages 280-293
Although the working conditions of college-level part-time lecturers in Japan have been a topic of discussion since the 1990s, receiving significant nationwide attention in 2007, there has not been a marked improvement since then. When the Japanese government revised the Labor Contract Act in 2013, it was expected that more employees would be shifted from fixed-term to permanent employment. The actual result, however, was that employers restricted the length of employee contract terms. This paper examines responses to a questionnaire survey given to part-time geography lecturers at Japanese universities. With an average work experience of more than 15 years, the respondents (n=15) reported earning a monthly salary of less than 30,000 yen per course per week. Most were teaching at more than four different institutions. The survey results showed that those making a living with multiple part-time lecture positions were teaching an average of eight classes per week.
