Critical account of decreasing labour productivity and low efficiency in the labour utilization of nonmanual workers in Japan, due to inflexible management, altered employees attitudes and social change - states that older workers are not retained, esp. In middle management, woman workers serve as cheap, intermediary manpower, and career pattern prospects for young workers are poor; finds disguised unemployment is favoured by the present educational system provoking high occupational aspirations; glossary. Graphs, photographs, references.