- The government
adopted the "economic rebirth measures" at the economic
policy ministerial meeting on 11 November. The total budget
is about 18 trillion yen including about 17 trillion yen for
the main project and about 900 billion yen for care and nursing.
The aim of the measures is to restore the economy in real terms
in the last half of Heisei 12 (2000 AD) and to ensure long-term
development of the economy from Heisei 13 (2001 AD). However,
the measures will not resolve the high unemployment rate which
is the worst since world war II. Secondly it will not resolve
insecurity in peoples' lives, therefore, we cannot avoid criticising
the "measures" by the coalition government.
- The "Economic
rebirth measures" have two aims: to create new demands for
real economic recovery and to determine the direction of the
structural reform of the socio-economic fabric of our country.
The measures include 1) promotion of medium-small size enterprises
and venture businesses, 2) propulsion of strategic and selective
technological development, 3) preparation of the infrastructure
for life towards the 21st century, and 4) revitalization of the
money market. They allocate 6.8 trillion yen for preparation
of social capital such as public investment (national costs 3.5
trillion yen) and 7.4 trillion yen for financial measures for
medium-small size enterprises (national costs 700 billion yen).
However, the main parts of the measures are, as in the past,
an expansion of public works and financial support for enterprise.
The measures relating peoples' lives and employment are not
sufficient at all.
- As for the employment
measures, although the items which cost 300 billion yen are included,
the main measure is to assist in the creation of employment in
medium-small size enterprises (51 billion yen), and to create
employment in the area which is affected by restructuring (32.1
billion yen). There are no measures like a creation of employment,
in the area of education, childcare, welfare, and environment,
which are socially necessary for the future. Today what is most
needed is support for the employment insurance scheme, which
protects unemployed workers and also creation of more than 1.4
million jobs. A budget of several trillion should be allocated
to these projects.
The support for medium-small size enterprises is limited to the
finance of new businesses such as ventures and to create an appropriate
environment for establishing new businesses. But useful and concrete
supportive measures regarding human resource development and
technological development are few. Revitalisation of medium-small
size enterprises requires an improvement of the quality of employment
and a preventative measure not to shift the loss on to medium-small
size enterprises, rather than measures of supply. It should
be promoted as "a law to protect workers when there is change
or rationalization in the organisation of the enterprises"
or "human resource development project in the manufacturing
sector".
With regard to welfare problems like pension reform and measures
for the aging society, which has drawn high public interest,
"the measure" mentioned an adjustment of the care insurance
scheme with the agreement of the three parties, an implementation
of the government's proposed pension reform and an introduction
of a fixed contribution pension in the year of Heisei 12. However,
these measures impose a burden on people and are a retrograde
reform which does not provide secure and reliable social security
system which people are seeking and therefore is not acceptable.
- As a goal for "new
base for the developments in the 21st century", the items
such as "a town where people can live without the car"
"rapid promotion of information technology" and "improved
security for people" are mentioned. However, these are limited
to only "ideas" and there is no implementation plan
and budgets which show a strong commitment.
The important task for this extraordinary session of the Diet
is to resolve employment problems and insecurity in peoples'
lives and to restore brightness and confidence into life. Therefore,
measures to improve employment and living conditions and also
the restructuring of welfare and social security should be set
as a priority at the base of the "economic rebirth measures".
The "rebirth measures" which do not devote to the
improvement of individual's life will not produce any results.
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