An increasing number of young, fast-track career bureaucrats handling Japan's economic policymaking are leaving public positions, either because they are seeking better work in the private sector or because the recent government realignment is reducing their administrative authority.

The trend is making top government officials worry that other elite bureaucrats may become demoralized, especially in the Finance Ministry, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.

Ryutaro Hashimoto, former prime minister and the current minister in charge of administrative reform, is scheduled to meet some former bureaucrats soon to examine what prompted them to give up their posts.

Many former bureaucrats have landed jobs in foreign-affiliated firms where pay and working conditions are better, or in venture businesses that are more challenging.

Analysts said recent political developments, such as the Jan. 6 reorganization of government offices that reduced the number of ministries and agencies, are accelerating the trend of elite bureaucrats resigning.

Particularly shocking to the Trade Ministry was the unexpected resignation in July of a middle-ranking executive. A division chief at the time, he was regarded as a man destined to become administrative vice minister, the highest post for career bureaucrats in the ministry.

Katsusada Hirose, the ministry's administrative vice minister, said the man did not give up his post because he was disillusioned with the bureaucracy, but instead wanted to gain experience in life.

"It is regrettable that competent people are leaving," Hirose said, referring to the growing number of bureaucrats seeking nongovernmental jobs.

"Politician-led" policy formation -- one of the goals of the government reorganization -- does not mean politicians make all the decisions, Hirose said, noting there must be some room left for bureaucrats to use their expertise simply because the country is in economic turbulence.

In the ministry, nine career bureaucrats below the rank of division chief quit in 2000.

One ministry official, who has served as a division chief in charge of personnel matters, said career bureaucrats generally earn only one-third of what private sector workers in the same generation take in.

"What motivates (elite bureaucrats) is their interest in their work, which allows them to participate in national administration," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

"However, their miscellaneous tasks are increasing and they don't have many opportunities to do actual policy-planning. So the private sector becomes relatively attractive to them. It is difficult to keep them" in government offices, the official said.

The reduced scope of bureaucratic power is another discouraging factor for government officials.

"If I want to do something big in the forefront, I would have to go to the private sector," said an official in his 30s at the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.

The Finance Ministry, which in the past compiled the annual budget, is no exception. The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, newly created within the Cabinet Office, is empowered to set basic directions.

The ministry was also stripped of its financial sector policymaking power, which is now in the hands of the Financial Services Agency.

Some middle-ranking Finance Ministry officials said they want to be involved in financial administration, go back to college or go abroad rather than work at the Budget or Tax bureaus -- both of which used to be considered prestigious in the ministry.

These comments apparently reflect their desire to obtain skills for new jobs rather than completing their career within the ministry.

A retired Finance Ministry official said: "Recently, politician-led initiatives have forced their way through and no one has dared to formulate long-term policies. With the ministry what it is now, it's natural for (some officials) to want to quit."

But the former official added that it is natural that the public wants politicians to assume more power over bureaucrats.

Some bureaucrats who entered the business world are critical of their former colleagues. Takeshi Numoto, 30, who left the Trade Ministry in 1997 and is now working at the head office of Microsoft Corp, is one.

Numoto said his former mentors in the ministry sometimes ask him for advice, but he criticized many of them as "self-centered" for thinking that the private sector is more interesting than their government jobs.

They not only fail to evaluate themselves in terms of what "added-value" they can contribute to society, they also are not goal-oriented, Numoto said.

"They are easy on themselves if they think they can do something because they are highly educated and are excellent," he said.