The action plan put forward by the government panel on "work-style reforms" features measures aimed at narrowing the steep wage gap between regular full-time employees and the growing ranks of workers on irregular contracts, as well as a first-ever legal cap on the overtime hours of company workers. They are both steps in the right direction, but much more needs to be done by all parties involved to make sure that the conditions of irregular workers are effectively improved and the chronically long working hours of company employees are significantly curbed.
Many of the planned government steps will only provide bare minimum standards, and a lot is left up to the efforts by individual businesses and their unions to substantially correct the long-standing labor problems. The government needs to take further measures to facilitate such efforts by the companies and their workers, and should be ready to constantly review the steps if necessary.
The proposed reforms — which the Abe administration says are intended to build a society where people can choose diverse and flexible ways of work, and thereby increase productivity even as the nation's population falls — also includes calls for the introduction of a more flexible work environment such as teleworking, measures to support people working while raising children or caring for ailing relatives, and the promotion of elderly people's participation in the labor market. Legislative steps to be based on the action plan, including an amendment to the Labor Standards Law, will be compiled and submitted to the Diet by the year's end, so that some of the steps will take effect in early 2019.