SNA (Tokyo) — The work shutdown in the wake of the April 7, 2020, emergency declaration hit one group particularly hard: students working part-time gigs (arubaito).

These students often work at family and fast-food restaurants, izakaya, and as teachers at juku cram schools. Some 40% of undergrad and graduate students reported reductions in income from such jobs, according to a late April poll by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA). Nearly 70% of the 35,542 respondents expressed economic anxiety about the future.

Many students related their experiences in the free response section of the questionnaire:

To be candid, I regret entering university. My parents and I have both seen our income drop, while expenses stay the same. I feel so bad to think how my tuition weighs upon my family finances. I don’t have a PC at home, so I manage with a smartphone. My part-time gig and my studies are both half-baked, so I have no idea why I started college.
–Male freshman attending a private university and living at home

I did a part-time gig to pay my tuition but got fired due to the coronavirus. I have zero income and am back living with my parents. I’m not living at my dorm at all but still must pay rent, maintenance, and full tuition. With no income, I have to dip into my savings. I don’t know what I’m gonna do when my savings run out.
— Female sophomore who ordinarily lives alone at her dorm

I lost my part-time gig due to corona. My mother raised me on her own, but she has irregular employment and low income. I get financial aid and school loans, but my mother and I are both in tough financial straits.
— Male senior living at home

I remember my college years in the early 1990s, and I recall well doing my part-time gig during college (gakusei baito) for pocket money, travel, group activities, and lots of other fun things. Today, though, countless students do such jobs to support their families as well as themselves. College tuition can set you back about ¥1.3 million (US$12,150) for freshman year for a humanities education at a private college. Meanwhile, tuition climbs steadily at national and other public universities, with that first year now running about ¥900,000 ($8,400).

Wages have stagnated this century, meaning more and more households barely eke out a living, with even parents facing extreme economic hardship. Some students deal with the economic distress by skipping college altogether and getting a job.

But Japan is a society that places great emphasis on schooling. There remains a deeply-rooted notion that landing a high-paying, high prestige job requires attending a (relatively) elite university. Parents struggle to ensure their progeny graduate from university. Children see their parents struggle and try to work part-time to help reduce their parents’ economic burden, if even a little.

Then, the pandemic struck. Gakusei baito is no longer for a little extra pocket money. It has become the only thing preventing students from dropping out of college. The wages have become the only way for students to survive.

Corporations increasingly see colleges as farms for their future workers. Students have become core and indispensable players in restaurants, bars, convenience stores, drug stores, and juku cram schools, often taking over managerial roles.

Students take on far more responsibility in these ‘side jobs,’ but wages stay cheap, even minimum wage. Many employers feel they don’t need to pay the 60% minimum furlough allowance (kyugyo teate) to college students during the pandemic. Not paying is, of course, illegal, but few students know so much about labor laws, convincing some employers that they won’t get caught. Employers can evidently do whatever they please with such students.

The government finally responded to the outcry of students around the country on May 19, 2020, announcing an aid program providing up to ¥200,000 (US$1,870) to students working part-time gigs who have seen their income plunge due to the spread of the coronavirus, with the Student Support Emergency Allowance (Gakusei Shien Kinkyu Kyufukin).

Right after the announcement, the Ministry of Education announced a discriminatory eligibility restriction against foreign students, saying only those foreign students with grades in the top 30% could get the aid. Social media outrage forced the ministry to backpedal a bit. They declared that each university can judge on their own who will make the grade, using the same criteria for Japanese and foreign students.

The central government is to be commended for creating the program to aid university students, but a one-time shot in the arm won’t cut it, any more than the minimum furlough allowance suffices for their parents. It is evident that long-term support measures are called for.

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