Japan to help job transfers of nonregular workers

Jiji Press

November 17, 2021

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Japanese government plans to set up a new system of helping nonregular workers switch careers, informed sources said Tuesday.

The new system is aimed at making it easier for part-timers and dispatched workers in industry sectors hit hard by the novel coronavirus crisis, including the hotel and restaurant industries, to make career transitions to sectors facing a shortage of labor, the sources said.

The government will include the project in its economic stimulus package to be adopted on Friday. After fixing the details of the system, the government plans to earmark several tens of billions of yen in a fiscal 2021 supplementary budget to finance the system.

The new system is expected to cover part-timers and dispatched workers who want to switch jobs as well as nonregular workers who have become unemployed.

Staffing companies will organize short-term training courses for temporary personnel, including on computer skills, and dispatch them to companies as nonregular workers on a trial basis to encourage employment.

The government will shoulder fees for the training and provide financial incentives to companies that accept nonregular workers under the system.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Daishiro Yamagiwa said on television on Tuesday that the government plans to spend several hundred billion yen over several years to implement the job transfer support project.