Word: demanding
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...global recession has again exposed the structural weaknesses that plague Japan: overdependence on exports to drive economic growth, anemic domestic demand, inefficient enterprises and barriers to competition. It's no secret that the root of all of these problems is demographics. An aging population is shrinking Japan's labor force and consumer market. The country's working-age population (aged 15 and over) has declined 2% since 1999. Over the same period, the number of workers aged 65 and up expanded 19%, while the labor force of workers aged 25 to 34 shrank 9%. (Read "Japan: Stimulating the World Markets...
...costs and become more competitive by hiring temporary, part-time and irregular workers. This change has been, if anything, too successful. Part-timers and temps today make up a third of the labor force, and most of them are young. This group should be a wellspring of domestic demand. Young people starting out in life are usually prodigious consumers as they purchase cars, buy homes and raise children. But part-timers and temps are not eligible for company benefits and certainly not lifetime employment - and because they frequently earn too little to contribute to public welfare funds, they are also...
...Japan's public debt is approaching 200% of GDP - the highest among developed countries - which limits the government's options. Still, the state must deepen the social safety net to better cover the underserved: young workers and families. This will help reverse the population decline, rebalance growth toward domestic demand and remove the need to mitigate unemployment by propping up inefficient companies and farms. Japanese citizens will have to make sacrifices - they may have to pay more taxes, for example. But neglecting the demographic problem will only prolong stagnation and risks relegating Japan to has-been status among economic powers...
...distributing only the 100,000 female condoms it has in stock in two regions. The government says it has learned its lesson from the earlier program, and will put more effort into distribution and teaching people how to use the condoms. The government plan is partly a response to demand from civil-society groups, who say Ugandan women are bearing the brunt of the AIDS epidemic. In a meeting on July 7, government officials agreed to start the program this year and extend it after a year if donors contribute more money. (See a video on new hope for kids...
...they read the adverts they can get their Ph.D. for money and not for their [academic] work." Theisen says these Ph.D. scams are big business, with the rewards more than just an impressive diploma to hang on the wall: "People who buy their Ph.D. titles then go on to demand more money from their employers in their future careers." (See 10 perfect jobs for the recession - and after...