Facilitating mobility from non-regular to regular employment is key to sustainable economic growth. This truth was recognized in the revitalization plan announced by the Prime Minister's Office in 2014, which included specific measures to improve the working conditions of nonregular workers and help them shift into regular employment.
The costs of not doing so are enormous to this "precariat" (precarious proletariat) in terms of thwarted careers, social status, poverty — and isolation, as they have a much lower marriage rate. This in turn is bad news for society because the declining marriage rate is an important factor in the declining fertility rate, meaning fewer consumers and taxpayers in the future, imperiling economic prospects and undermining the solvency of pension and health insurance schemes.
Moreover, the spread of poorly paid nonregular employment to 38 percent of the workforce, from 6 million in 1984 to over 20 million in 2016, is depressing consumption and thus fanning deflation. Firms also invest less in training such workers, lowering productivity.