Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) Discloses Preliminary Budgetary Demands for FY2002
On August 28, the MHLW submitted its preliminary
budget proposal for FY2002. In its proposal,
MHLW has set aside an ordinary budget of
18 trillion 745.5 billion yen, an increase
of 3.75% over FY2001.
Most of the increases come in social security
and other "special structural reform
demands" in information technology and
the six other strategic sectors outlined
in JIL Labor Flash Vol. 3. The increases
take into account the government's report
on interim structural reforms and employment
measures, and come in ten broad categories,
mostly concerned with the establishment of
employment safety nets.
Specifically, the MHLW demanded a greater
budget to deal with expected increases
in
unemployment coming from efforts to
write
off bad bank debts, create employment
in
the service sector, and realign the
labor
market to ensure a better match between
labor
demand and supply. The MHLW also seeks
to
develop better personnel training programs
at universities, graduate schools,
and NPOs
to assist the emergence of Japan as
a "human
resource power" and to establish
measures
that will allow families to balance
work
and childcare concerns and "create
a
social environment in which women can
raise
children and still be able to live
up to
their full potential in the workplace."