Statement on Kishida government’s “Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2023” and other policies

Kurosawa Koichi
Secretary General
the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren)
June 19, 2023

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on June 16 approved the annual “Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2023,” which includes “the revised grand design and action plan for a new form of capitalism for 2023” It follows the “Action Plan for the Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in Society” and the “Action Plan for Children’s Future Strategy,” both approved on June 13.

The outline of the action plan for the promotion of women’s participation and advancement calls for (1) speeding up women’s promotion in the workplace by raising the ratio of female board members to more than 30 percent in listed companies; (2) increasing efforts to help women earn more income and achieve their economic independence while correcting long working hours and promoting diverse and flexible work styles, and (3) taking measures to help keep themselves in good health for life through strengthening measures against domestic violence, sex crimes and sexual violence.

In the 211th Ordinary Session of the Diet, priority was given to listening to the parliamentary majority’s opinion in railroading the bills to amend the immigration law and establish the LGBT law, and the pressing needs of people seeking a refugee-status and those who have disability were not heard in passage of these laws. These political circumstances show that the government is reneging on Prime Minister Kishida’s pledge “to realize a sustainable society enabling all people to find their lives worth living and respecting diversity.”

The action plan for children’s future strategy calls for intensive efforts over the next three years under three basic ideas: (1) increasing young people’s incomes; (2) changing social structure and awareness, (3) supporting children and child rearing households in a seamless manner. It contains measures that need to be implemented immediately, such as the child-support allowance and the free medical care for children. But it does not set out measures to help young people get out of low wages or precarious jobs, which are causes of discouraging them from seeking to have a family. On the issue of securing financial resources, the government is considering forcing elderly people to pay more while cutting benefits. It’s totally preposterous. The government and the ruling parties succeeded in enacting a bill to secure money to spend on massive arms buildup while continuing to disregard securing money for social welfare security services.

The Grand Design and Action Plan for a New Form of Capitalism, revised in 2023, argues that it is necessary to accelerate the effort to fix the slow progress in investment or capital investment in people, which arises from various structural problems in the Japanese economy. It explains the need to invest more in people and carry out structural wage increases and lays out “Guidelines for Trinity Reform of the Labor Market,” explaining that reskilling and other efforts will make labor mobility possible to help the fast-growing sectors and raise wages.

But the aim of the “Grand Design” is to adversely revise the rule of employment. The introduction of systems like the “Japanese-style job-based wage system,” the “job-type employment system,” and “diversity in the workplace” will divide the employees and bring in discrimination and instability. It will lead to removing the cost-of-living elements and various benefits from wages and strengthening the performance evaluation system and individual wage management instead of leading to overall wage increases. To begin with, no employer would invest in people who want to start work at a new company. The Kishida government’s labor policy is total failure.

“The Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2023” was apparently led by the business sector as clear from the policy formulation process. It describes a rosy picture to argue that dreams will come true if the economy grows. It regards the measures to cope with society with the falling birthrate and measures to boost employment simply as means of achieving economic growth, while the need is to create an environment that ensures the worker rights leading to the happiness of each one of the people and makes it possible to bear and bring up children without worry. In other words, human rights must be protected.

Zenroren is working to realize a society in which all working people can continue to work without worry. It will continue to work to advance the demands with the broad strata of the population for the establishment of the uniform national minimum wage and for the improvement and expansion of the social security measures.