THE CHANGE OF THE MINING LABORERS IN THE HITACHIT MINING-MANUFACTURING REGION AFTER THE DECLINE OF THE COPPER-MINING INDUSTRY

Abstract

Today's advanced Japanese economy has been formed basically by the exploitation of minerals and the development of the heavy-chemical industries which use minerals as rowmaterials and energy, since the Meiji period. However, on the regional level, there are few cases where both mining and manufacturing developed in the same region. Generally, while the mining industry was located in secluded places in the mountains, the heavy-chemical industries were established in coastal areas. In contrast with the remarkable development of the heavy-chemical industries through the free trade since 1963, the mining industry faced the worst crisis in its history. In 1955, the number of mining laborers in Japan totaled about 413, 000, but it drastically decreased to 58, 000 (14 percent of the former figure) in 1980. In the mining cities all over the country, the collapse of a regional society has become a serious problem after the decline of the mining industry. A chief countermeasure through which a collapsed regional society will find a way out is industrialization. This study is an attempt to consider the change of the mining laborers by using the case of the declining mining industry in the Hitachi mining-manufacturing region. I further would like to clarify some factors which prescribe the re-employment of the laborers. Hitachi City is located 130 km north of Tokyo. Since Hitachi Mine was initiated as a modern industry in 1905, two enterprises, Nippon Mining Company and Hitachi Company Ltd., developed. The population of Hitachi City is now about 205, 000. As Hitachi Mine declined since 1962, the mining workers decreased from 4 017 down to 500. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The mining laborers can be divided into the administrative-technical group and the operative group. Although the administrative-technical group was to be the core force to resuscitate Nippon Mining Company and the regional society, they were transferred to subsidiary companies before the retreat of the company. The operative group comprised by mining and industrial workers stayed behind. 2. Within the operative group, the young workers quickly changed their occupations or transferred to subsidiary companies. The middle-aged workers stayed at the company till the mine close down or transferred to subsidiary companies. And the older workers retired before reaching the age limit. In other words, whereas the young work force was fluid, the older one was rigid. 3. The change of the mining laborers was typified by the employment of the manufacturing industry, especially of Hitachi Company Ltd. and its affiliated companies. Children of the mining laborers took employment at Hitachi Company Ltd. and its affiliated companies after the completion of schooling. The young mining workers became employed mainly by the affiliated companies and the middle-aged or older workers obtained employment at the subcontract, small-scale factories. In sum, the younger the mining laborers were, the easier the change into the manufacturing labor force of Hitachi Company Ltd. was. As the ages of laborers became older, they switched more easily to the subcontract, small-scale factories. 4. The types of the manufacturing industry into which the middle-aged or older workers moved are mainly the electrical machinery industry of the subcontract factories of Hitachi Company Ltd. and the material working industry similar to the mining industry. One factor which prescribes these occupational changes is that the manual labor with simple machines in these industries resembles the mining operations so familiar to them. 5. Besides the manufacturing industry, the mining workers took employment in various industries. However, what these industries have in common is the fact that their operation types resemble those of the mining industry.