TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio pledged Thursday to “invest drastically in people” as a way to achieve his key policy goal of creating a positive cycle of growth and distribution.

Holding a round-table meeting with economists at the prime minister’s office, Kishida said that such investments will be made as part of a set of economic measures to be finalized Friday.

He reiterated his plan to include a package in which 400 billion yen will be used over three years for professional training aimed at nonregular workers.

“We’ll complete the positive cycle by encouraging new investments and growth, while placing priority on people,” Kishida said at the round-table. “The public and private sectors should actively fulfill this role, instead of leaving it to the market.”

Tsutomu Makoto, professor at the University of Tokyo’s graduate school who was formerly an official at the Bank of Japan, said that distribution is not working well in Japan, noting that nominal wages have not risen since 1996.

“Companies cannot raise prices because wages aren’t going up,” he said. “A positive cycle of prices and wages will lead to growth.”

“The country won’t function if we don’t raise wages,” said Hisashi Yamada, vice chairman of Japan Research Institute Ltd. who specializes in labor economics. “What we need is high-quality growth led by domestic demand.”

Ayako Kondo, professor at the University of Tokyo, stressed the need to train people in their 30s who are raising children.

JIJI Press