EXCLUSIVE: New Subsidies Eyed to Support “Ice Age” Generation

December 11, 2019

Tokyo- The Japanese government will establish a new subsidy program for local governments working on innovative measures to help people from the employment "ice age" generation land stable jobs, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.

Through the initiative, the central government will clarify its long-term commitment on the issue and make it easier for municipalities to fully engage in employment support for the group, informed sources said.

Many people in their 30s and 40s currently work in nonregular positions or have even given up seeking work altogether against their will, due to having graduated from school during the post-bubble economic downturn of the 1990s and 2000s.

The central government plans to come up with a three-year intensive assistance program, in the hope of increasing the number of regular employees in the age demographic by 300,000.

A total of 10 billion yen will be secured for the new subsidies over three years, with 3 billion yen of the total slated to be earmarked under the government's planned fiscal 2019 supplementary budget and the rest under the budgets for fiscal 2020 and later, the sources said.

Under the subsidy system, municipalities will submit their assistance plans to the state via prefectural governments. The central government will then decide whether to offer the subsidies based on such factors as whether the measures will be able to build the foundation for employment support for the ice age generation and whether they can give a good example to other municipalities, the sources said.

The government hopes that the program will help trigger nationwide moves to nudge unemployed people living in unstable conditions to build links with society at large and find opportunities to work or get involved in society in a manner suitable for them.

The government also plans to expand the operations of regional education and job support consultation centers for young people and create a new program allowing participants to earn job qualifications and obtain on-the-job training in a short period of time, the sources said.

The measures will be given more than 50 billion yen in state funds over the three years from fiscal 2020, according to the sources. Jiji Press