Over 20 percent of public health care center staff in many of Japan's 47 prefectures suffered from overwork last year due to their duties in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a level that could increase the risk of death, a survey by an umbrella organization of labor unions showed Thursday.
The All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union found in its survey that around 23 percent of the 1,771 respondents said their monthly overtime work was over 80 hours, considered a threshold that could raise the risk of "karoshi" or death from overwork.
The latest results highlight the continued challenges of labor shortages and concerns over mental health for those on the front-line, as the global pandemic is still far from over even after more than two years and Japan struggles with its sixth wave driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The survey, conducted between November to January mainly on personnel of public health care centers in 40 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka, also found that around 36 percent had symptoms of depression. About 1 percent had logged in more than 200 overtime hours per month, the report also said.
"It is necessary to increase the number of staff," Haruki Hirayama, head of the group's division on sanitation and medical care, said at a press conference.
The group, composed of labor unions including those involving workers in the public service sector and public servants nationwide, said many respondents reported putting in excessively long hours in work in August at the peak of the fifth wave of COVID infections.
Among those who responded that they had monthly overtime work of more than 80 hours, half said they had experienced symptoms of depression.
Asked what duties had increased with the spread of COVID, many said responding to telephone inquiries, followed by administrative work and the contact-tracing program.
In the optional comment section, respondents recalled suffering verbal abuse such as being told they should die or that their work was slow from patients or their family members.
Participating in the press conference online, a man in his 40s who worked at a public health center in Hokkaido said he engaged in COVID response duties until March last year. He recounted how he was swamped with administrative work when dealing with a string of cluster infections and how he had to go home after midnight.
Not a few personnel end up feeling exhausted and taking a long sick leave, and despite extra help from other divisions, there is still a staff shortage, he said, adding, "The burden on each person has not been reduced."
Even before the pandemic, Japan has been criticized for its deeply rooted overwork culture blamed for causing sickness and deaths.
The issue of overwork came under fresh scrutiny following the death of a 24-year-old female employee at advertising giant Dentsu Inc. who committed suicide in December 2015 in a case that was later recognized as karoshi.
Related coverage:
Overwork on the rise as pandemic ups load on Japan's essential workers
