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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the first follow-up meeting on the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens, at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, there was discussion on the state of progress of the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"We will create a society in which everyone can find fulfilment and fully exercise their capabilities. We will dismantle one by one the various barriers we face, such as the rigidly uniform labor system and obstacles to balancing childcare and nursing care with work. We will create a positive cycle of growth and distribution, and realize a society in which the wealth thus produced is spread widely among citizens so that many people enjoy that growth. The dynamic engagement of all citizens tackles this challenge.

Japan's relative poverty rate was released last October and, for the first time since statistics were first calculated, has shown a decrease. In particular, the relative poverty rate of children was 9.2 15 years ago, 10 years ago it was 9.7, and five years ago it was 9.9, showing a consistent increase. However, the relative poverty rate of children has improved for the first time, and moreover this was a large improvement with a decrease of two points to 7.9. This is due to the income increase for families with children amidst the upturn in the economy, including the increase in employment, brought on by Abenomics. In order to further advance these conditions, we will continue to tackle challenges through the dynamic engagement of all citizens. 

Before my administration's return to power over 100,000 jobs were lost, but since the start of the administration we have created 1.85 million jobs. This is a major negative-to-positive shift. In particular, before the start of my administration, 550,000 regular employment jobs were lost. While it is true that it took some time for us to increase regular employment, two years ago a shift to positive job growth was achieved. During these two years, approximately 800,000 regular employment jobs have been newly created. I would like to leverage this employment situation to seize the great opportunity to advance work style reform.

We are currently advancing work style reform as an extension of realizing the dynamic engagement of all citizens. At the end of March, the Action Plan for the Realization of Work Style Reform was approved.

The Action Plan incorporates legal revisions to realize equal pay for equal work, which was once considered to be difficult to immediately introduce, as well as the introduction of regulation of the maximum hours of overtime work, evaluated as a historic and major reform in the 70-year history of the Labor Standards Law. As a major challenge of realizing the dynamic engagement of all citizens, we will implement these measures with a sense of urgency.

We received the strong guidance from the expert members here today that follow-up is vital as we approve the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens. I would like you all to continue to strictly view the progress and frankly say when you think progress has not been made. That is how follow-up works in a meaningful manner. 

Today, one year since the approval, we had a discussion in regard to the implemented Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens based on the Government's status report.

Based on the views of the expert members received today, I would like the relevant ministers to implement measures with a greater sense of urgency toward the measures' realization. For example, earlier we heard the important opinion that there are still some issues in regard to hosting the Paralympic Games.

With the coming opportunity of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we must work hard toward the goal of having Japan become a nation that is seen by the world as a wonderful country, a fulfilling country for people with disabilities and those who face various difficulties, and a country full of dreams that is easy to live in.

To that end, I believe that it is important to thoroughly conduct these follow-up meetings each year. I would like to continue to have follow-up meetings, and have each minister respond with a sense of urgency to the views we receive. Thank you for your continued cooperation."