Japan Press Weekly

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2016 January 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

Birthrate target at 1.8 is not viable: economist

Boosting Japan’s fertility rate to 1.8 births per woman is a goal Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has set. To achieve this target, he proposes free early childhood education. Professor at J.F. Oberlin University Fujita Minoru, however, argues that the 1.8 birthrate is not viable.

The professor who is also an economist contributed an article to Akahata on January 16 over Abe’s child-support measures under his “new three arrows” economic policy.

Why has Japan’s birthrate been decreasing?

In Japan, it takes a lot of money for parents to raise and give a good education to children. Besides, many parents have been facing difficulty in balancing the housework, childrearing, and jobs. Men, normally, work too long to do household tasks. Among double-income couples, who looks after the home and children are mostly women. In order to share the responsibilities of home and family between husbands and wives, it is essential for the central government to legally reduce working hours.

However, the present administration has been reluctant to set an effective upper limit on working hours. Instead, it has been eager to have workers work more without limit. Specifically, it is considering creating a “zero-overtime” payment system for those who engage in jobs requiring a high level of professional knowledge as well as expanding the discretionary work schedule system which currently applies to some sales, managerial, and R&D jobs.

Quite a number of young workers in non-regular positions say that they cannot get married due to financial reasons. This has also been a factor for the declining birthrate. The government is calling for some kind of measure to help young people find spouses. In this regard, to ensure stable employment and decent wages for non-regular young workers will be the most effective way to help them get married.

Nevertheless, the Abe government has been unwilling to reduce the wage gap between regular workers and non-regular workers. Even in Tokyo, the minimum hourly wage stays at only 907 yen which is very low compared to other industrialized countries.

The Women’s Empowerment Law is going to come into effect in April. The Abe government is claiming that the promotion of women’s social participation is a pillar of its “new three arrows” economic policy.

In order to actually help women to play more active roles in the workplace, it is essential to introduce a wage system based on the principle of equal pay for equal work, along with effective legal restrictions on working hours. The Abe administration, however, refuses to stir even a finger to abolish wage differentials between men and women.

In June 2014, an act obliging the national government to prevent death from overwork (karoshi) was enacted. This is the fruit of years of struggles by bereaved families and their legal counsels.

To prevent death from overwork, it is necessary to place a legal limit on working and overtime hours as well as allow workers adequate rest periods. But the government is making no effort to implement these measures.

While espousing a variety of fancy words, PM Abe and his administration continue refusing to make them legally binding.