Japan Press Weekly

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2018 August 29 - September 4 [POLITICS]

Gov’t ministries list number of disabled employees at double actual figures

The Labor Ministry on August 28 published the inspection results regarding reports on disabled employment which showed that the actual number of disabled people employed at government ministries is less than half of the reported number.

The government data released at the end of 2017 indicates that the number of disabled people employed at government offices totaled 6,867. Using this figure, the government has announced that the percentage of government employees with disabilities stood at 2.49%, exceeding the target line of 2.3% under the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act.

However, according to the inspection results, among the 6,867 disabled government employees, only 3,460 met the statutory requirement for rate calculations. Based on this figure, the employment ratio of disable people to total government employees is actually 1.19%.

Furthermore, the inspection results revealed that 27 (80%) of 33 national public entities fabricated their reports on the number of disabled employed.

Later on the same day, aiming to clarify the cause of the problem, the government decided to set up a third-party organ consisting of legal experts under the “Liaison Conference Among Related Ministries and Agencies” which is chaired by Labor Minister Kato Katsunobu.

On the previous day, the Japan Council on Disability (JD) issued a statement.

The statement referred to the fact that in March, the Abe Cabinet approved the fourth revision of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities in which the government seeks to boost employment of disabled people through various efforts such as an effort to have state organizations meet the mandatory employment rate of 2.3%. The statement pointed out that the Cabinet and other core government entities should accept responsibility for the forgery of the data on disabled employed.

The JD in its statement demands that the government establish an investigatory body that includes representatives of disabled persons’ groups in order to conduct fair and thorough investigations, and disclose related information to the general public. The JD also urged that working conditions and the employment situation of disabled people be reformed drastically and that the legislative body make all out efforts to this effect.

Past related articles:
> Central gov't padded the number of employees with disabilities to make it look like it achieved its numerical target [August 26, 2018]
> JCP Koike demands probe into government ministries’ alleged falsification of disabled employed [August 19, 2018]