Yukimi Takahashi, center, and Emiko Sado, left, attend a news conference in Tokyo in June 2018 after the Diet passed a work-style reform bill. Takahashi’s daughter Matsuri, an employee of advertising giant Dentsu Inc., committed suicide from overwork. Sado’s daughter Miwa, a Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) reporter, died from overwork. At right is Emiko Teranishi, representative of the national group of families that works on the issue of death from overwork. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Young people in media-related jobs appear to be particularly vulnerable to grueling work conditions that could lead to death from overwork, a government white paper says.

The media and construction industries had previously been cited by the government as most in need of more effective measures to prevent "karoshi" and were the particular focus of the document released Oct. 1.

Of 30 instances in which media personnel were recognized as suffering from mental disorders under the workers compensation program over a roughly five-year period through 2015, those in their 20s or 30s accounted for 19 cases.

Four people, all in their 20s, committed suicide from overwork.

The statistics are from the labor ministry's 2019 white paper on "karoshi" prevention measures, which looked at working conditions and other circumstances in the media and construction industries.

The ministry analyzed 311 cases in construction and 52 in media of brain disease, heart disease and psychological disorders recognized as workers' accidents, or "rosai," from January 2010 to March 2015.

In the 311 cases in construction, 54 people killed or attempted to kill themselves due to overwork. Of them, 30 people, or more than half, were foremen at construction sites or engineers.

The white paper cited long working hours and drastic changes in work volume and job quality as the primary factors in those incidents.

In the media industry, 26 of the 52 cases were in advertising, followed by 17 cases in broadcasting, six in publishing and three in the newspaper industry.

By occupation, 10 of the 52 cases occurred in sales promotion, followed by media production and directors with seven.

Stress in the background of cases of workers suffering from mental disorders and those who committed suicide came mainly from long working hours, changes in the quality and volume of work and problems with superiors.

Lawyer Hiroshi Kawahito, who serves as secretary-general of the National Defense Counsel for Victims of Karoshi, said, "As media reports intensify ahead of the Tokyo Olympics (in 2020), there are concerns that overwork will spread.