As part of its comprehensive strategy to combat population decline and revitalize Japan's regions, the government will aim to create 300,000 regional jobs by 2020 to stem the flow of young workers to Tokyo, according to a final five-year policy plan obtained by Kyodo News on Thursday.
The plan also aims to move more workers into permanent jobs from temporary ones, and to reduce the number of underemployed "freeters" to 1.24 million nationwide by 2020, down 580,000 from 2013.
The strategy is set to be adopted at Saturday's extraordinary Cabinet session along with a long-term vision of Japan's population as of 2060. Policies are then expected to be reflected in the government's fiscal 2015 budget and in upcoming revisions to the tax system.