Japan's poverty problem
(From The Japan Times October 20 issue)

深刻化する日本の貧困問題

Poverty in Japan is deepening. The welfare ministry announced last month that as of June, 1,907,176 people in 1,377,930 households were on welfare, receiving livelihood assistance (seikatsu hogo). This is the first time that the number of people on welfare has topped 1.9 million since fiscal 1955, when about 1.93 million people were receiving livelihood assistance every month. It is estimated that the number of welfare recipients will exceed 2 million by the end of 2010, close to the record set in fiscal 1952 when some 2.04 million people were on welfare.

In fiscal 1995, about 880,000 people were on welfare — the lowest figure on record. Since then, the number of welfare recipients has been rising. It topped 1.5 million in fiscal 2006. Since December 2008, due to the effect of the economic downturn triggered by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s collapse, every month more than 10,000 people have been joining the welfare rolls. The total number surpassed 1.8 million in December 2009. The figure in June 2010 is some 208,000 more than a year before.

Welfare rolls are swelling because of high unemployment, low wages and the increasing number of households that include low-income elderly people. A growing number of relatively young people who either can't find work or work in extremely low-paid jobs are being forced onto welfare. Often they have not joined the unemployment insurance scheme or their wages were so low that they cannot make ends meet with their unemployment insurance benefits.

The government should change the social insurance system so that even if the duration of time that people work is extremely short they can join, and benefit from health and unemployment insurance schemes.

Currently, people have to pay premiums for at least 25 years to be eligible to receive pensions. This period should be shortened. Most importantly, the government must focus on job creation, particularly medical, nursing care and child-rearing services, where demand for workers is strong.

厚労省によると、日本では6月現在、生活保護を受ける世帯が137万世帯、受給者は190万人で、190万人を超えたのは1955年以来初めて。2010年末には200万人を超えると予測されている。受給者数は95年度の88万人を底に増加に転じ、リーマン･ショック後の2008年12月以来、毎月1万人以上が対象者に加わってきた。

高失業率、低賃金、低収入の高齢者を抱える家庭の増加が貧困化の原因だ。無職あるいは低賃金の仕事に就く若者が増え、生活保護を受けざるを得なくなっている。その多くは失業保険未加入か、失業手当では生活ができない。

政府は、就労期間が短くても健康保険や失業保険に加入できるよう社会保険制度を変えるべきだ。

公的年金の最低加入期間の短縮も検討が必要だが、特に医療、介護、子育てといった需要の高い分野での雇用創出が重要だ。