The Labor Policy Council is pushing to ease the rules on hiring — and firing — temporary workers.

This coincides with the Liberal Democratic Party's desire to make Japan more "business friendly" — a major shift from the pro-labor Democratic Party of Japan's policies when it was in power.

The Worker Dispatching Act took effect in 1986, ending a postwar ban on supplying temporary workers. Before and during the war, temp brokers abounded, charging high fees.