LDP Presidential Hopefuls Call for Reducing Burden on Young People; Candidates Suggest Lowering Social Security Payments, Raising Incomes

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:30 JST, September 13, 2024

Social security policy is one of the main topics of debate in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s ongoing leadership race. As for how to deal with the seemingly unstoppable population decline, supporting families and young people who want to get married and have children holds the key to putting the brakes on the drop in birthrates. LDP presidential candidates are calling for reducing the burdens faced by young people, among other measures.

Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi is in his 40s, an age when many people are raising children. At an event on Thursday in which the nine presidential candidates delivered policy speeches, Kobayashi stressed that he would like to drastically increase the disposable incomes of young people by reducing the social insurance premiums they pay. He pledged to create a council for the future of social security to give a concrete shape to his ideas.

Shinjiro Koizumi, former environment minister, is focused on improving incomes of young people by increasing their life options through such measures as workstyle reforms. Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato has called for turning irregular workers with unstable incomes into regular ones and taking other measures to double incomes of workers.

One urgent issue that must be addressed to stop the decline in the child population is preventing the outflow of people from regional cities. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi indicated his belief that it is necessary to further promote measures such as creating more jobs in regional cities.

LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi suggested that he would try to attract semiconductor plants and data centers to regional cities. “I would like to stop young talent in regional cities from moving away,” he stressed.