The Cabinet on Friday approved an action plan to streamline and increase efficiency in the public sector and promote deregulation for implementation through 2005 following the reorganization in January of central government ministries and agencies, officials said.
The so-called outline of administrative reform, which Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori pledged in September to work out by the end of the year, is designed to change how state workers are employed, reform public corporations and encourage municipalities to merge.
The plan says the current practice of promoting public-sector workers based on seniority should be replaced by a merit system.