A state task force led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday unveiled a comprehensive package of measures to deal with unemployment.

The package, compiled by the Headquarters for Industrial Structural Reform and Employment Measures, primarily features steps to help middle-aged people who lose their jobs as a result of corporate restructuring.

It is founded upon three basic pillars: the creation of new jobs, helping unemployed people find jobs and establishing a safety net for those who lose their jobs.

Most of the measures listed in the package will be funded via a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year and the fiscal 2002 budget, according to an official of the Cabinet Office.

In July, the nation's jobless rate hit 5 percent -- the highest level since the government started compiling unemployment data in 1953.

As a means of helping unemployed people find jobs, the task force wants to create around 50,000 career-counseling positions at public job-intermediary offices within five years. It is planning to educate middle-aged unemployed people to take up these positions.

Middle-aged white-collar workers often lose their jobs as a result of corporate restructuring and face difficulty in finding new positions.

The task force is calling for job-intermediary services at public and private institutions to be upgraded, while promoting an internship system for new graduates.

It is also seeking to promote vocational training for middle-aged job-seekers at universities, graduate schools, private companies and nonprofit organizations.

Moreover, the task force is calling for a review of the existing temporary employment system and revisions to related laws.

It is proposing, for example, to extend the maximum contract term under the fixed-term employment system for middle-aged job-seekers from one year to three years.

Regarding safety net measures, the task force wants to extend loans to jobless people who are ineligible for employment insurance to cover their living expenses, based on certain conditions.

The task force is also seeking to use subsidies to create public service positions such as assistants for school teachers and forest rangers.

It similarly wants to extend subsidies to construction companies that hire engineers from other construction firms, as the construction industry will be severely hit by unemployment as banks continue to dispose of their bad loans.

The task force considers medical and welfare services as promising fields in terms of job-creation and new business ventures.

The task force is thus proposing to increase child-care centers via a scheme under which the public sector constructs facilities and the private sector operates them.