[/floatl]Asahi: 10% of workers at small, medium-sized companies think about suicide
At least 10 percent of workers at small and medium-sized businesses in Tokyo had thought about committing suicide in the past year, a recent survey found. The survey also showed that more than 25 percent of the respondents can be considered in a state of depression as a gloomy mood may be spreading over corporate society as a whole, experts warn. The survey was compiled by a panel of researchers commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare...The panel sent questionnaires to 87 offices and factories operated by small and medium-sized companies in Tokyo's Ota and Chiyoda wards, as well as 2,890 employees at those work sites, according to the researchers... The result showed that 10.3 percent of the respondents said they thought about killing themselves in the past year. Of them, 1.8 percent said they thought about suicide "frequently," while 8.5 percent said "occasionally." When asked if they actually tried to take their lives in the past year, 2.2 percent said "yes"... "Company operators have to seriously accept the fact that many workers are thinking about suicide," said Yuichiro Tokunaga, director of Shiranui Hospital in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, who is familiar with issues involving mental health at workplaces. "It should be considered a problem stemming from the corporate structure and management, not from personal matters and immediate supervisors," Tokunaga said...more...
