Govt to draw up social security reform timetable by year-end

Jiji Press

17:54 JST, September 8, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government plans to compile a social security reform timetable by year-end, looking to improve support measures for child-rearing households and expand the coverage of the corporate pension and health insurance systems to all workers.

At the third meeting of a government task force on the matter Wednesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed that it is important to make drastic efforts to tackle the country’s declining birthrate, in order to realize a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution.

Kishida instructed related ministers to accelerate discussions on improving child-rearing support and reforming the medical and nursing care systems.

With the number of people aged 65 or older in Japan seen peaking in the 2040s, the reform timetable will specify by when system revisions should be implemented for related issues.

The timetable will be based on an interim report released by the task force in May this year. The interim report puts emphasis on promoting system revisions under the Kishida administration’s initiative on human resources investment.