TOKYO: KAWAMOTO Yuko, head of Japan’s National Personnel Authority, on Sunday suggested a need to review the way the quota on national civil servants in the country is managed.

“Now may be time for the government to consider the issue of employee quota while studying streamlining the duties of national civil servants,” she said in a television program, regarding a drop in the number of applicants for work positions at the government due to long work hours.

The quota on government employees is decided by the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs every fiscal year.

But it has been pointed out that the number of workers is not sufficient compared with the workloads, which is said to be one of the reasons for the number of applicants going down and young government workers quitting their jobs.

On the system in which personnel issues related to senior positions at ministries and agencies are handled solely by the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs, Kawamoto hinted at a need to review whether the system is providing “appropriate motivation” to national civil servants.

JIJI Press