reform

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Bill to reduce the number of government employees submitted to Diet

The Koizumi government on March 10 submitted to the Diet a bill to promote administrative reform, laying down numerical goals for reducing the number of government employees.

Advocating a small government, the Koizumi Cabinet is giving the top priority in the current Diet session to the bill calling for the reduction of public personnel costs as its centerpiece. In the name of increasing the scope for private-sector activity, the bill intends to open up the public services to corporations seeking profits.

The bill proposes five-point objectives, including cutbacks in the total personnel costs of central and local governments and mergers and abolition of governmental financial institutions.

In order to reduce personnel costs, it sets the targets of a net reduction in five years starting from FY 2006 of the number of central government employees by more than 5 percent and local government employees by more than 4.6 percent.

The number of central government employees, however, has already been reduced to the bare minimum, and further cuts will cause substantial setbacks in services to the public.

Concerning local government employees, the bill proposes to cut the numbers which the central government prescribes in education, police, fire fighting, and public welfare. If it is enacted, public services directly affecting residents' living conditions will suffer a serious setback.

The bill also prescribes the overall review of the salary system for central and local government employees. If this policy is put into practice, it will not only cut public employees wages but also accelerate wage cuts for private sector workers. What is more, the proposed cuts in the number of government employees and their wages will serve as the prerequisite for increasing the consumption tax rate.

The proposal to merge the eight governmental financial institutions into one organization will aggravate the already insufficient system of financial support for small-and medium-sized enterprises. It will further undermine these enterprises, the real backbone of the Japanese economy.
- Akahata, March 11, 2006