Cabinet ministers discussed a range of employment issues with leaders from labor and business circles Thursday in a bid to exchange views on a set of growth strategies the government aims to map out by next week.
"Where there is growth, jobs are created. Where there are jobs, we can expect growth," Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said at the outset of the second meeting of the government's employment strategy task force, underlining the importance of formulating growth strategies to help improve the bleak employment situation.
The participants exchanged views on such issues as a possible hike in the minimum wage and deregulation in industries that have high growth potential but still face many restrictions in areas including the environment, energy and child-rearing, according to Satoshi Arai, an aide to the prime minister.
Some Cabinet members, including Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Akira Nagatsuma, attended the meeting.
Nobuaki Koga, chairman of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the nation's largest labor union association, as well as Tadashi Okamura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were also among the participants.