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Japan may shorten waiting period for jobless benefits

The government is pushing forward measures to promote labor mobility, such as helping increase mid-career recruitment. (File photo/AFP)
The government is pushing forward measures to promote labor mobility, such as helping increase mid-career recruitment. (File photo/AFP)
29 Oct 2019 07:10:20 GMT9
29 Oct 2019 07:10:20 GMT9

Tokyo

Japan’s labor ministry on Tuesday kicked off debates on shortening the period before the start of jobless benefit payments to people who voluntarily quit their jobs from the current three months.

The move comes as part of efforts to improve the social safety net as the number of people changing jobs is expected to increase partly on the back of diversifying work styles.

At the day’s meeting of the Labor Policy Council, which advises the labor minister, both the labor and management sides called for the waiting period to be shortened in order to financially support people quitting their jobs until they find new ones.

The ministry plans to make a decision by year-end after examining details, including on the fiscal front.

The waiting period, which was initially set at one month, was extended to three months in 1984 to prevent people from easily quitting jobs.

Last month, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), the country’s biggest group of employers, proposed that the period be shortened to one month for job seekers who are receiving jobless benefits for the first or second time.

The government is pushing forward measures to promote labor mobility, such as helping increase mid-career recruitment.

During the 2017 ordinary session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, adopted a supplementary resolution calling for the launch of debates for shortening the waiting period, taking into account the government’s efforts to facilitate a labor shift from mature to growth industries.

Currently, the amount of jobless benefits, set according to the levels of recipients’ wages from their former jobs, ranges from 2,000 yen to 8,335 yen per day.

The number of recipients totaled some 1.06 million in fiscal 2018, which ended in March this year, with the benefit period averaging 105.6 days. The average period would likely grow if the waiting period is shortened, pundits said.

Jiji Press

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