Japan: Businesses Responding to Need for Older Workers

Writing for The Japan Times, Ryohei Takeda follows up on the legal revision on stabilizing elderly employment that took effect in Japan in April, making it obligatory for firms to keep workers on the payroll in stages until age 65. Specifcially, he writes that the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that about 96% of firms with more than 300 employees have already introduced measures to extend employment.

However, Takeda notes, "the bulk of them rehired employees aged 60 with pay cuts of 50 percent or more." On the other side, the ministry said that less than 7% of businesses have gone so far as to either raise the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65 or abolish it.

Source: The Japan Times "Workforce gears up to take in growing number of seniors" (August 2, 2006)