My recent posts on the battle over the union wrangling about “lifetime jobs” at The Boston Globe (see “The Value of a Lifetime Job: Would You Believe It’s $33,000” and, earlier, “Does Anyone Really Think They Have a ‘Job for Life’?”) were based around what I consider to be a pretty obvious premise—that the concept of a “lifetime job” is completely unsustainable in our 2009 economy, and it is reckless to put a lifetime job guarantee ahead of the survival of the business and jobs for everyone else.

That’s why this story in The New York Times this week about lifetime job guarantees in Japan resonated with me. According to statistics released Wednesday, May 20, the Japanese economy in the first quarter suffered its worst contraction since 1955, declining 15.2 percent on an annualized basis. But a far smaller portion of workers have lost their jobs in Japan than in either the U.S. or the European Union (Japan’s unemployment rate in April was 4.8 percent, compared with 8.9 percent in the U.S. and Europe).

And here’s the kicker, according to the Times: “Analysts say this is because lifetime employment is alive and well in Japan, with the state playing a big role in keeping it so.”

The story goes on to point out that “Japan’s obsession with keeping workers employed—even those who are not needed—comes at a cost. Companies slash wages, which reduces consumer spending. Businesses become more reluctant to take on new recruits, shutting young people out of the labor force. And productivity plummets, hurting Japan’s competitiveness in an increasingly aggressive international market.”

A lifetime job was a reasonable notion in my grandfather’s time, but it is completely out of whack in a 21st century economy. It’s a holdover from a long-ago time and about as functional in today’s world as a buggy whip. No wonder Japan’s economy hasn’t been able to ever really recover, and shame on the Boston Newspaper Guild for having the chutzpah to even make this a part of labor negotiations.

As I’ve said before, don’t get me wrong: I love the concept of a “job for life,” but I put that in the same category as buying a ticket in hopes of winning the lottery. It’s a wonderful fantasy, but totally removed from the reality of day-to-day life. If you want proof of that, just take a good hard look at Japan.

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