Labor ministry admits wrong data comparison used by Abe

February 19, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese labor ministry admitted Monday that a data comparison that was referred to by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before parliament last month to support work style reform, a flagship policy of his administration, was wrong.

"It was inappropriate. We deeply apologize," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato said at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on the day.

Opposition parties are poised to step up criticism of the government over the matter, arguing that the false comparison may have been intentional.

The comparison, based on the ministry's fiscal 2013 survey on working hours, suggested that employees under fixed overtime schemes work some 20 minutes per day less than those who receive overtime allowances linked to their actual work time.

In the comparison, however, daily work time figures were used for the first group of employees, while data on the longest daily overtime in a month plus statutory eight hours per day were referred to for the other group, according to the ministry's announcement on Monday.

In response to doubts raised by the opposition camp about the data comparison, Abe last week retracted his remarks in question, while Kato vowed to scrutinize the comparison.

The Abe administration plans to submit work style reform legislation that calls for expanding the fixed overtime system.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference on Monday that the government will continue to work on the legislation, although opposition parties are urging the government to reconsider it.

"It's an important reform for workers, so we'll do all we can to realize it," Suga said.

The opposition side is concerned that an expanded fixed overtime system would effectively force employees to work longer hours without increases in overtime allowances. Jiji Press