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The Rise of Animal Farming: The Helpless Reality of Young Japanese Workers
Since the 1990s, the term ‘social animal’ has become popular in Japanese society, describing employees who devote all their energy to their companies as if they were livestock. In recent years, with changes in the social environment, especially among young people, a new term has emerged – ‘hunting livestock’.
‘Slacking livestock’ is the working version of ‘social livestock’, specifically referring to young migrant workers who exhaust their time and energy, and even sacrifice their studies and lives in the process of working.
Japan’s labor shortage crisis: the catering and service industries are facing difficulties
With the severe shortage of labor in Japanese society, especially in the catering and service industries, many companies are facing the problem of not being able to hire enough employees.
This situation has forced some restaurants to suspend operations during the most profitable lunch or dinner periods.
According to this year’s data, the number of cases of business closures due to “manpower shortage” has increased by 2.4 times compared to last year.
‘Livestock farming’ has become the norm for young people
In this context, many young people are forced to become “livestock”. Many people have revealed that their work schedules are very dense, not only during their free time, but even during class time, they are dedicated to working. For example, some young people work five to six days a week or even work every day, while some college students hold two jobs at the same time and have little time to relax or socialize.
A young person said, “If there were a lot of work schedules on that day, I would say I was like a ‘slacker’
This intensive work pace leaves them with no time to focus on their studies and lives, and many people have to give up social activities to prioritize work.
The root cause of the phenomenon of “livestock farming”: the low-cost strategy of enterprises
Why are so many young people forced to become ‘butchers’? Experts point out that this is directly related to the employment strategy of enterprises. Under the pressure of inflation, companies attempt to maintain a high level of service but are unwilling to raise salaries to attract formal employees. So, companies choose to rely on cheap labor such as migrant workers and demand that they undertake work beyond their capabilities.
I often have a schedule of 5-6 days per week, and sometimes even go to work every day
Many migrant workers have reported that they are often required to do the work of regular employees, such as taking care of shops alone and taking on too many responsibilities, which should not be done by migrant workers. Some workers complain, “The restaurant requires us to do things beyond our ability to work, even to run the store alone, which makes us feel very unfair
Vicious cycle: migrant workers are forced to take on more responsibilities
Labor sociologist Chang Jian Yangping pointed out that the phenomenon of “livestock farming” is actually a product created jointly by enterprises and society.
Due to a shortage of manpower, companies are unwilling to let existing employees resign, instead adding more scheduling pressure to them.
This situation has led to a vicious cycle – companies that want to maintain high-quality services at low costs can only rely more on cheap workers.
To cope with this dilemma, companies need to treat their employees more fairly, especially young workers.
Otherwise, as the labor shortage problem intensifies, enterprises will only fall into more serious difficulties and cannot sustain operations in the long run.
The popularity of “animal husbandry” reflects many problems in the Japanese labor market, especially among young people who are forced to sacrifice their time and energy to undertake work tasks beyond their abilities. As the labor gap widens, this phenomenon may further expand. Only by improving working conditions and increasing salaries and benefits can migrant workers break free from the dilemma of “livestock farming” and return to a more balanced state of life.