RENGO held the 2nd Central Executive Committee Meeting on November 11 to endorse "the Rectification of the Employment Insurance System and Reappraisal of RENGO's Plan."
In light of the serious employment crisis, the Employment Insurance Committee of the Labor Ministry's Central Labor Employment Safety Council is studying measures to cope with the Employment Insurance budget deficit. In response, RENGO decided to reappraise its plan to achieve system reform on the actual issues based on the precept that the Employment Insurance System should be maintained as a "safety-net."

To achieve system reform based on actual issues such as maintaining Employment Insurance as a "safety-net" and measures for the re-employment and support of the unemployed, while at the same time making it possible for them to find other employment before becoming unemployed, RENGO conducted an examination of the overall situation including case studies and decided that its plan for Employment Insurance reform should be rectified as follows.

(1)

The factors responsible for the current high unemployment rate can be found in failed government policies such as renovating financial structures before economic recovery. Furthermore, the government's job creation measures are stagnant. RENGO therefore seeks to infuse ¥1 trillion into the Employment Insurance System stabilization fund in the 2nd supplementary budget for the 1999 fiscal year.

(2)	Current tentative measures will be abolished on the precondition that government liability will be revised at one forth of the insurance rate. The insurance premium rate will be rolled back to its former rate of 11/1000 (with flexible terms of 13/1000 maximum and 9/1000 minimum).

(3)

While taking into consideration the high unemployment rate and the difficulty of re-employing seniors (60-64 years of age), we are studying the reappraisal of the provision period and other items to prevent large-scale increases in premium rates. Further, we demand that the government study measures regarding post-retirement employment.

(4)

We replaced our demand to extend provision periods to 90 days by relaxing application standards for the national extension of employment insurance provisions with a relaxation in provision standards for the unemployed in emergency employment stabilizing regions. The change was made because by extending it to 90 days expenditures would increase by ¥900 billion past the current financial deficit in Employment Insurance.

(5)	Taking the current financial situation into consideration, we are continuing to examine a measure that provides 60% of one's wages for those on child or nursing care leave.

(6)	We must maintain the framework of the current system given the difficulty of re-employing the bracket that includes middle-aged and seniors (45-59 years of age) and the need to support them.

(7)	We will not easily permit the differentiation of provisions for reasons of unemployment since the distinction between voluntary and involuntary unemployment is not always clear.

(8)	We demand the extension of the vocational training provision period and reinforcement of its provisions.

(9)

Relax application standards for short-shift workers and registered outsourced workers to help them gain insurance and do away with all irregular uninsured businesses. Regarding the other items, we followed the decision made at the Central Executive Committee Meeting on August 19. However, there are plans to reorganize industries and businesses, including the utilization of the Industrial Revitalization Special Measures Law which became effective in October 1999, which may further adversely affect the unemployment rate. When it is necessary to revise insurance premiums to make the system sustainable in spite of high unemployment reaching more than 6% at worst, we will admit reasonable revisions after examining certain cases.