OSAKA -- In an effort to boost morale among prefectural employees, the Osaka Prefectural Government plans to reinstate special pay raises to staffers for good performance, it was learned Monday.

The practice, in which 30 percent of its workforce saw their pay rise by one level every six months instead of every year as is the norm, was suspended in fiscal 1999 due to fiscal restraints.

Critics had argued that in the long run, most employees sooner or later benefit from the scheme and that it served little to actually make differences in pay.