Australian 'larrikin' ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke dies at 89
Bob Hawke, a transformative and charismatic left-wing lawmaker with a "larrikin' streak who served as Australian prime minister from 1983 to 1991, died on Thursday aged 89, his family said. "Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian — many would say the greatest Australian ...
Health insurance law revised to limit coverage to Japan residents
The Diet enacted a legislative revision Wednesday to make the national health insurance program largely applicable only to workers and their dependents residing in Japan. The revision to the health insurance law is aimed at blocking use of the system by foreigners who have never ...
Joe Biden opens with pitch to labor in battleground Pennsylvania
By picking Pennsylvania for his first campaign speech of the presidential race, Joe Biden is signaling he hopes to own what may be the 2020 election's toughest battleground. Planting a flag in Pennsylvania makes sense for the longtime former senator from Delaware: He was born ...
Aging Japan to see 25% of breadwinners turn 75 or older by 2040: report
Japan's rapidly-aging society will see a quarter of its breadwinners turn 75 or older by 2040, the Nikkei daily has reported, citing a study from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. The total number of head-of-households who are 75 years of age ...
Japan's famed convenience stores look to cut opening hours amid labor shortage
Apart from culture, food and a superefficient rail system, one of the things that most impresses travelers to Japan is its convenience stores, bursting with sushi, alcohol, underwear and ready-made food available at all hours. Well, maybe not for much longer. The 24-hour konbini experience is ...
Japan's government adopts bill to prevent padding of disabled employment figures
Lawmakers at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday adopted a bill intended to prevent government ministries, agencies and other public organizations from overstating the employment of disabled people. Under the bill, which amends the law on promoting the employment of people with disabilities and will now ...
No systematic cover-up of faulty jobs data at labor ministry, investigative panel says
A panel probing faulty jobs data denied there was a systematic cover-up at the labor ministry, saying top bureaucrats had been unaware monthly labor surveys were “conducted improperly.”
Tens of billions of yen in jobless benefits unpaid due to faulty labor ministry data: sources
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday the government will decide whether to rework the fiscal 2019 budget after the ministry’s investigation.
Japan's labor ministry knowingly published erroneous monthly labor survey: officials
The labor ministry has released monthly jobs data despite knowing that it did not satisfy sampling standards and was erroneous, officials said Tuesday. The revelation could undermine confidence in the accuracy of key economic indicators as Japan enjoys a prolonged phase of economic expansion. Under existing ...
Regulations regarding employment of disabled workers to be strengthened
The government has decided to toughen regulations for the employment of disabled workers after ministries and agencies were found to have inflated their employment figures to meet legal quotas, sources close to the matter said Sunday. A bill to be submitted to the Diet next ...
The number of disabled employees at 35 of the 43 state institutions stood below the level required by law as of June 1 this year, the welfare ministry said Tuesday. The actual hiring rate for people with disabilities stood at 1.22 percent, falling short of ...
Two years ago, an online rant about the lack of day care in Japan went viral on social media and seemingly started a movement, prompting working mothers to stage demonstrations in which they demanded the government take them seriously and offer more child care. Since ...
