Back Next- The ratio of companies securing employment opportunities until age 65 is as high as 71.8% as of January 2003; however that of companies accepting all candidates for work up to the age of 65 is merely 28.8%. (Chart 2-3-1)
Chart 2-3-1. Ratios of Companies with Employment Security until Age 65
| Source: | Calculated from Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "Employment Management Survey," 2003 |
| Note: | 1. There are a few companies ensuring employment until age 65 among companies with other retirement systems such as by job type. 2. There are also a few companies with a compulsory retirement age above 65. |
-A bill was submitted to the 159th Diet to partially amend the Law Concerning Stable Employment of the Elderly, etc., which provides for the promotion of reemployment of older workers, as well as employment security until age 65 based on various measures, including the introduction of the continued employment system and the extension of retirement ages.
- Since 2003, the "Project to Achieve Continuing Employment until Age 65" has been conducted in cooperation with related organizations including administrative, economic, and labour entities. This project includes activities to provide group guidance and suggestions for companies that are affiliated with major employers' organizations located in each prefecture.
- The employment situation for older workers is still severe, as represented by high unemployment and low application rates. Since 2003, the Trial Employment Project for Older Workers has been executed for older workers, in particular, householders who desperately need to be reemployed, for the purpose of ensuring their regular employment through trial employment. In addition, various reemployment support programs have been provided for older long-term jobless workers, such as employment support seminars and consulting services utilizing the know-how of private firms, and experiential exchanges among job seekers.
- For the elderly who wish to participate in and dedicate themselves to the society, new childcare support programs have been implemented since 2003, which include baby-sitter services and transportation services to daycare centers by the members of Silver Human Resources Centers. (As of the end of March 2003, there were 1,790 Silver Human Resources Centers and about 730,000 members.)
- In January 2003, an employment goal was established in order to increase to 30% during FY 2005 the ratio of job offers available to all ages to the total job offers that were accepted by public employment security offices. A full range of well-planned programs have been implemented to reach this goal.
- In FY 2003, based on the "7th Basic Plan for Human Resources Development" (Plan Period: 2001-2005) that was developed in May 2001, various operations were conducted, including operating "Career Development Support Corners" in the Prefectural Centers of the Employment and Human Resources Development Organization of Japan, fostering career counselors, and providing Career Development Promotion Grants for employers supporting their workers' career development through self-initiative, etc.
- So that workers could enjoy fulfilling work throughout their lives, it is important to develop a good environment that allows them to manage both their working life and family life.
For the purpose of making child-care and family-care leave more convenient and accessible, a bill has been submitted to the 159th Diet to partially revise laws including the Law Concerning the Welfare of Workers Who Take Care of Children or Other Family Members Including Child Care and Family Care Leave. The bill includes the expansion of the range of workers who are subject to child-care and family-care leave, the extension of the span of child-care leave, and the alleviation of restrictions on acquisition of family-care leave.
- In FY 2003, the Law for Securing the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Undertakings and Improved Working Conditions for Dispatched Workers (Law No.88, 1985) was amended in response to the severe unemployment situation and the diversity of working styles. This amendment aims to allow undertakings for worker-dispatches to realize prompt, smooth, and exact connections of the supply and demand of the labour force.
- The basic concept and importance of the public pension system had been widely diffused during Pension Week (November 6-12) and on other occasions. In particular, measures to ensure the collection of National Pension Insurance premiums have been thoroughly taken since 2003. Such measures include compulsory collection from persons with sufficient income who are not willing to pay their premiums despite repeated payment requests.
- Since it is expected that the lower fertility rate and the population aging will be accelerated rapidly, there is a pressing need to conduct institutional reforms in order to establish sustainable, solid public pension programs. Therefore, a bill was submitted to the 159th Diet to partially amend the National Pension Law, etc. In addition to improving the Old-age Pension for Active Older Employees, accelerating support for developing the next generation, and dividing the Employees' Pension after divorce, this bill includes the following three objectives: 1) Prevent the insurance premium rate from rising and set it at 18.3%, and moreover, introduce a system to control the rate of benefits in accordance with changes in the total income of the society and average wages; 2) Ensure that the rate of benefits exceeds 50% of the average income of working generations in the future; 3) Clearly show how to increase the national subsidies to 50% of total basic pensions. This plan, which was left unresolved in the last systemic revision, will start in FY2004 to reach the goal by FY2009.
- In principle, pension benefits are automatically revised in accordance with price fluctuation. However, since prices had gone down for three years since FY2000, pension benefits were left unchanged upon exceptional treatment. In a calculation according to the law, benefits in FY2003 should be decreased by 2.6%, adding the total for the past three years, but the revision this time was limited to the percentage decrease of the Price Index (-0.9%) in 2002.
- It was decided that pension benefits would be decreased upon exceptional treatment by the percentage decrease of the Price Index (-0.3%) in FY2004, like in FY2003. In order to implement this exceptional treatment, a bill was submitted to the 159th Diet to establish the Law Concerning the Exemption of Benefits Revision Based on the National Pension Law in FY2004.
- For the purpose of unifying financial units of the National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations and the Local Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations in accordance with the "Promotion of Unifying Public Pension Systems" (decided by the Cabinet in March 2001), bills were submitted to the 159th Diet to partially amend laws including the Law Concerning the National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations and the Law Concerning the Local Public Services Mutual Aid Associations. In addition, a discussion was held to accelerate the increase of insurance premiums related to the Mutual Aid Association of Private School Personnel.
- A discussion was also held for corporate pension plans, as well as reforms of the National Pension Program. In the course of the discussion, it was determined that the following measures to stabilize and enhance corporate pension plans be taken: 1) Lifting the freeze on the exempted premium rate of the Employees' Pension Fund; 2) Alleviating the limit of contribution for the defined contribution pension plan, and easing the requirement for redemption before maturity; 3) Improving convenient measures to add up each person's insurance premiums related to different corporate pension plans of the defined-benefit type. These plans were included in the bill to partially amend the National Pension Law.
- In 2002, the Long-term Life Support Fund Loan System was established in the Prefectural Council of Social Welfare for elderly households with low income to use their house as collateral for a loan as they continue to live there. As of January 1, 2004, 35 prefectures had already started lending activities, issuing loan permits for 93 cases.
- Information about the Adult Guardianship System to protect human rights of persons who need protection, including elderly people with dementia, is widely spread; and it can be added to the support activities for the elderly, which includes such services as property management.
- The Health Promotion Law (Law No. 103, 2002) was enforced on May 1, 2003, as a legal basis on which the government actively advances health promotion and disease prevention with a national consensus. This law provides the following:
- Basically, the Long-term Care Insurance System has been implemented steadily since its enforcement in April 2000, and the number of users has sharply increased mainly for home nursing-care services. The Long-term Care Insurance System provides that municipalities review insurance premiums and revise the Long-term Care Insurance fees every three years. In April 2003, municipalities across the country revised insurance premiums, and the government revised Long-term Care Insurance fees from the viewpoints of emphasis on home services, self-reliance support, and service quality improvement.
- In order to provide information on how to select and utilize welfare equipment, a database was created and a new system was developed so that users and nursing-care support specialists can search for such information on the Internet (this system started operating in April 2004). The information to be maintained in the database includes examples of utilization of welfare equipment and house refurbishment, how to choose wheelchairs or special beds, and product information such as the measurements and functions of the welfare equipment that is covered by the Long-term Care Insurance System.
- In order to improve the quality of care managers, the Internship Program for Care Managers and the Training Program for Existing Care Managers were revised in FY 2003. The Internship Program for Care Managers was revised to promote the awareness of the importance of care management, and the Training Program for Existing Care Managers was changed to a training system acting according to each person's operating skills.
- Service assessment by outsiders, which has been required for group homes for the elderly with dementia since 2002, has been continuously conducted.
- Aiming for the stable management of the system even at the peak of the low fertility aging society in the future, based on a supplementary rule of the Law to Partially Amend the Health Insurance Law (Law No. 102, 2002), basic principles were decided in March 2003 concerning how the Medical Insurance System should operate, including reorganization and integration of the insured, establishment of a new medical health system for the elderly, and reexamination of the medical fee system. The basic principles set forth the establishment of a new medical health system for elderly persons aged 65 or older, which will be done in view of different characteristics for older and younger elderly persons. This plan was developed with the aim of ensuring consistency between ages when pensions start to be paid and ages when the nursing-care insurance system is adopted, reducing the burden of high medical fees, and easing differences between the National Health Insurance and Employees' Health Insurances.
- The "Population Projections for Japan," which were announced in January 2002, forecasted that the fertility rate would further decline. In response to the forecast, the government developed the "Current Policies to Support Fostering the Next Generation" in March 2003. In this guideline, the government decided to take a full range of measures in a well-planned manner to "review working styles of both males and females," "support child care in local communities," "support the next generation in the social security system," and "improve social skills of children and promote independence," as well as "support managing both child care and work."
In addition, the Law for Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation (Law No. 120, 2003), which aims to be a basic principle for promoting these measures, and the Law to Partially Amend the Child Welfare Law (Law No. 121, 2003), which aims to strengthen child care support in local communities, were established in July 2003. (Chart 2-3-26)
Chart 2-3-26. Outline of the Law for Measures to Support the Development of the Next Generation (Temporary statute for 10 years from 2005)
| Source: | Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare |
- In order to ensure that learning opportunities can be appropriately provided depending on a variety of learning demand throughout life, it is important for the government and municipalities to cope positively with the advancement of lifelong learning, and a society providing lifelong learning has been created based on the Law for Improving the Systems to Promote Measures for the Advancement of Life-long Learning (Law No. 71, 1990) and the reports by the Subdivision on Lifelong Learning of the Central Council for Education.
- As one of the Projects for Providing Information about Life-long Learning, a program to spread information about life-long learning is being promoted nationwide, and additionally, the National Lifelong Learning Festival was held for the purpose of spreading and enlightening life-long learning, including a symposium and experimental workshops. Through the festival, opportunities were provided on a nationwide scale for the general public to participate in activities related to life-long learning. (The festival was held under the theme of "Discover a new you at Chura-jima! Deepen heart-to-heart understanding!" in Okinawa Prefecture for the period of November 27 to December 1, 2003.)
- In the New Courses of Study in elementary schools and junior high schools that have been implemented since FY 2002, measures to positively promote volunteer activities or exchanges with the elderly have been under way and further efforts are being made to smoothly carry them out (in high schools, enforced in FY 2003).
- The "Rich Experience Activity Model Program" has been developed since FY 2002 so that students of elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools can participate in a variety of hands-on activities including experience of social service activities such as volunteer activities, with the schools and regions promoting experimental activities designated in each prefecture.
- Many learning opportunities are provided for a wide range of age groups in community centers, libraries, museums, social education facilities for women, as well as the Board of Education, etc. Among these programs are seminars or classes for further understanding the aging society or those for the elderly themselves. (Chart 2-3-33)
Chart 2-3-33. Number of Social Education Classes and Courses for the Elderly at the Boards of Education and Community Centers
| FY2001 | FY1998 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of classes and courses | 45,501 | 37,078 | |
| Humanities studies | 25,215 | 23,272 | |
| Sports and recreation | 9,898 | 5,036 | |
| Family life and education | 2,845 | 2,193 | |
| Vocational knowledge and skills | 823 | 350 | |
| Citizenship and social solidarity | 4,334 | 4,289 | |
| Others | 2,386 | 1,938 | |
| Source: | Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, "The Survey on Social Education," 1998, 2001 |
- So that the elderly themselves can positively participate in society with a sense of fulfillment while finding their own role, it is essential to make efforts to improve various environmental conditions in society. For this purpose, Senior Citizens' Clubs engaged in positive comprehensive social activities in local communities are subsidized for their further promotion.
- In order to promote the elderly's fulfillment and health, grants are provided for enlightenment and diffusion of municipal social activities for the elderly, and for support of elderly volunteer activities, etc. In addition, subsidies are provided for programs to develop elderly leaders and to establish organizational networks, which have been conducted by the "Prefectural Offices to Promote a Prosperous Longevity Society" located in each prefecture. The National Welfare Festival for the Aged was held in Tokushima Prefecture in October 2003.
- From the viewpoint of supporting social participation activities utilizing seniors' abundant knowledge and experiences and learning results, the National Forum for Social Participation of Older Persons was held so that a variety of generations of the nation might widely exchange opinions about measures to promote seniors' social participation (held in Okinawa Prefecture on November 30, 2003, with the theme of "Wisdom of 'Churasan': Curiosity is a barometer of high spirits".)
- Based on the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities (Law No. 7, 1998, hereinafter referred to as the NPO Law), the environment to promote NPO activities including volunteer activities has been established by qualifying a cooperation status and so forth. In May 2003, from the viewpoint of further promoting NPO activities, the Law to Partially Amend the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities (Law No. 173, 2002), which provided an increase in the types of allowable NPO activities, was enforced. In April 2003, the Certified NPO system was revised to ease certification requirements and to launch the deemed contribution system. In addition, the "Guideline to Operate the NPO Law," which defined the operation of the NOP Law in accordance with its objectives and concepts, was developed and announced in March 2003, being revised in December of that year. Furthermore, various efforts were made to allow users to file the application and registration related to the NPO system through computers, and to make access to reference documents and related information available on the Internet.
- In FY 2003, a system to guarantee the payment of rent for housing received by subleasing companies was newly established to take advantage of the elderly's housing assets as rental housing and to support the elderly.
- The certification system for non-step buses with standard specification was established in January 2004.
- Regarding walking environments, making areas barrier-free has been promoted in accordance with the "Accessibility Guideline for Roads," which was made in December 2002, explaining concrete concepts of smooth accessibility criteria based on the Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law.
- Aiming for smooth accessibility for elderly people, facilities taking into consideration use by elderly people are being established, such as elevators and escalators in the public transport terminals of stations or airports, and the introduction of vehicles such as non-step buses are being promoted. (Table 2-3-46)
Table 2-3-46. Status of Transportation Accessibility Improvement for the Elderly
(1) Status of Making Passenger Facilities Barrier-Free (*Note 1)
| Number of facilities used by 5,000 or more passengers per day on average | End of March 2002 | Number of facilities used by 5,000 or more passengers per day on average with toilets | End of March 2002 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrier-free facilities | Blocks for guidance of the visually impaired | Facilities with toilets for the handicapped | ||||||
| Railway stations | 2,739 | 1,068 | (39.0%) | 1,988 | (72.6%) | 2,607 | 326 | (12.5%) |
| Bus terminals | 45 | 32 | (71.1%) | 26 | (57.8%) | 34 | 14 | (41.2%) |
| Piers | 9 | 5 | (55.6%) | 4 | (44.4%) | 8 | 1 | (12.5%) |
| Airports | 22 | 4 | (18.2%) | 8 | (36.4%) | 22 | 10 | (45.5%) |
| (100% *Note 2) | ||||||||
| Note: | 1. The above figures conform with the smooth accessibility criteria based on the Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law. Among railway stations with 5 meters or more height difference which are used by 5,000 or more passengers per day, the ratio of those equipped with one or more elevators is 52.3% and those equipped with one or more escalators is 67.4%. 2. Elevators, escalators, and slopes that allow for use by the handicapped had been already installed at all airports by the end of March 2001. |
(2) Status of making vehicles barrier-free
| Total number of vehicles, etc. | Vehicles, etc. conforming with the smooth accessibility criteria at the end of 2002 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Railway vehicles | 51,136 | 9,922 | (19.4%) |
| Low-floor buses | 58,424 | 8,095 | (13.9%) |
| Non-step buses | 3,835 | (6.6%) | |
| Passenger boats | 1,116 | 23 | (2.1%) |
| Airplanes | 465 | 114 | (24.5%) |
| Note: | Vehicles, etc. conforming with the smooth accessibility criteria are counted based on each vehicle's conformance to the smooth accessibility criteria. |
(3) Introduction of "welfare taxis for the disabled"
End of March 2002: 3,276 (Total number of taxis: 263,282)
| Source: | Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport |
- In order to accelerate the establishment of buildings that the elderly and the disabled may use in a convenient manner, the Act on Making Buildings Accessible and Usable by the Elderly and Physically Disabled (Law No. 44, 1994) was revised in FY 2002, starting the making of specified buildings with certain use and scale barrier-free, enforcing further efforts for making buildings barrier-free, and expanding support policies for the specified buildings including the exemption system of floor space index. Making buildings barrier-free has been promoted based on this revision.
- In the Basic Plan for Disaster Prevention (Decided at the Central Disaster Management Council in March 2004), the implementation of disaster policies considering the vulnerable including the elderly is pointed out. Therefore, measures for disasters such as debris flow have been taken intensively to protect facilities including hospitals and elderly homes. In addition, efforts have been made to prevent secondary disasters from occurring in the case that areas with a high percentage of elderly suffer from severe flood damage or sediment-related disasters.
- Residential fire prevention measures, including activities for publicity, familiarization and awareness raising which aim to decrease the number of the elderly killed due to residential fires, have been promoted based on the "Basic Policy for Preventing Residential Fires," which was developed in April 2001 by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. In 2003, new residential fire prevention measures were discussed at various committees including the Fire Defense Council, and reports were compiled for the establishment of the law that provides the installation of residential fire alarms.
- In order to promote programs for agricultural or local activities by the elderly in rural regions, administrative efforts have been made to support their spontaneous activities, including promoting activities that are jointly conducted by the elderly in cities and rural regions to develop better communities, as well as providing opportunities for the elderly in rural regions so that they may give the elderly in cities guidance in gardening activities. In addition, for the purpose of making the most of the abundant experience and extensive skills of the elderly and promoting their social participation in forestry usage, various services have been provided, including conducting training programs for persons who are in charge of planning and operating educational activities for forestry environments, and offering the information about leaders.
- Research on diseases common in older age, such as dementia, cancer, etc., have been promoted in the General Research Project of Longevity Science, etc. In particular, research on developing treatment for immune deficiency syndrome, early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and guidelines for the treatment of osteoporosis, etc. have been promoted. Moreover, a research team was organized by geriatricians to promote fundamental and clinical research on causes, diagnosis, medical treatment, and prevention, etc. of elderly diseases.
- Regarding cancer, based on the "New Ten-year Strategy to Overcome Cancer (from FY 1994 to FY 2003)," research on elucidating the nature of cancer and clinical and preventive research focusing on conquering cancer have been promoted. In addition, the "Tertiary Comprehensive Ten-year Strategy to Overcome Cancer" was developed in July 2003 as a strategy for the 10 years from FY 2004, which determined that comprehensive measures should be continuously taken to sharply decrease the cancer disease rate and the cancer death rate.
- Concerning cancer, myocardial infarction, as well as apoplexy, dementia and bone fracture, which can be a major cause of a condition requiring care, research on medical treatment technology and new medicines utilizing high-technology such as genome science and protein science, and research for realizing regenerative medical treatment using self-restoration capability, etc. have been developed.
In addition, various research has been conducted to find disease-related genes and to analyze their functions with the aim of overcoming lifestyle-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease.
- In FY 2003, research and development aiming to realize regenerative medical treatment using stem cells and so-called tailor-made medical treatment which enables prevention and treatment suitable for an individual, program development to simulate cell and living body functions with life information technology and high-tech imaging skills, and establishment of fundamental facilities to develop living body functional diagnosis and medical examination technology uniting optoelectronics and medical check-up technology were started. Furthermore, significant efforts have been continuously made for the structural and functional analysis of proteins, translational research to share basic research results with society in an appropriate manner, and other activities.
- In the field of medical and welfare equipment technology, the research and development of safe, convenient equipment has been conducted with the help of the most advanced industrial technology and in cooperation with related industries, educational institutions, and the administration.
- It is necessary to review the systems required to promote effective research and development related to the aging society in a variety of fields.
The Chubu National Hospital and the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology have been enhanced in terms of their functionality for the purpose of promoting scientific research on longevity and strengthening the system that aims to develop and implement innovative, advanced medical treatment for diseases particular afflicting the elderly, such as dementia and osteoporosis. In March 2004, the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology was newly established as the sixth national highly specialized medical center.
As a measure against cancer, the National Cancer Center opened the Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening in October 2003 in order to conduct the research and development of advanced screening methods and to establish a standard method for cancer screening.
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