‘Make Young People Want to Live There,’ Says PM Ishiba as He Tries to Breathe Life Back into Regional Communities

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:06 JST, December 1, 2024

TOTTORI — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday underscored the importance of making regional areas places that young people and women will choose to live in order to overcome population decline, during a speech in Tottori.

Ishiba suggested he would push hard for regional revitalization, one of his pet policies, aiming to correct wage gaps between men and women and introduce a system allowing workers to work flexibly as regular employees.

In his speech, Ishiba explained that the low birth rate and declining population in regional areas are caused by two main factors. One is the “social decrease” that results from the outflow of young people and women to urban areas and the other is the “natural decrease” that is caused by the low birth rate.

“Making regional areas somewhere that young people and women will chose to live is core to new regional revitalization,” Ishiba said, stressing the need to realize working styles and workplaces attractive to young people and women in these areas.

Ishiba mentioned four concrete measures: correcting wage gaps; encouraging employers to hire more regular workers; ending the “L-shaped curve,” meaning the percentage of women in full-time employment decreases as they leave regular employment after marriage or childbirth; and encouraging men to take childcare leave.

On wage gaps between men and women, Ishiba argued that one reason for the issue is management’s unconscious assumption that there are no disparities between employees. He called for the business community to examine whether there are such wage gaps between male and female workers.

To increase the number of regular employees, Ishiba stressed that there would need to be allowance for diverse working styles. He mentioned introducing a system for workers with regular employee status but shorter working hours.

“While some people say the number of working hours is a condition for regular employment, I want to make it possible for workers to work shorter hours if they wish to do so for various reasons,” he said.

Ishiba, who served as the first minister for regional revitalization, aims to double subsidies for the policy on an initial budget basis. He called on industrial communities, public entities, academic circles, financial institutions, labor organizations and media outlets to make every effort to bring new life to regional areas.

It was the first time Ishiba visited Tottori, from where he was elected to the House of Representatives, since taking office as the prime minister.