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The Prime Minister in Action
Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society
November 30, 2017
[Provisional Translation]
On November 30, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the third meeting of the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society at the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the meeting, debate took place on recurrent education (continuing education) and university reform.
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
“At the start of the discussion, Mr. Sakakibara (Mr. Sadayuki Sakakibara, Chairman, Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) and member of the Council) responded to the Government’s request for around 300 billion yen in funds from the business community. He stated that, with the major premise of the consumption tax rate being raised to 10%, the business community will provide up to a maximum of 300 billion yen in phases from the perspective of encouraging supports to corporate employees for continuing their job and balancing work and child-rearing. I’m afraid if it appears to reconfirm this once again. In response to the statement made by Mr. Sakakibara, I would just like to say a few words.
We will receive the cooperation of the business community for realizing the Plan for Raising Children with Peace of Mind, which is aimed at eliminating childcare waiting lists, an urgent issue facing Japan. I would like to once again extend my appreciation for this cooperation.
At the same time, the business community requested that the Government consider measures to mitigate the burden such as lowering labor insurance rates as the employment situation has been improved. We will consider the request regarding labor insurance rates while taking into account trends in social security finances and also examine other measures for supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises.
In addition, Today, we kicked off discussions on recurrent education and university reform. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Lynda Gratton for taking time out of her busy schedule and coming all the way from London to join us today.
We will create a society where people can go back to school anytime and start over. With the aim of building a 100-year life society, we will consider to improve recurrent education, which will be the key to achieving this aim. We will also create an environment in which anyone, regardless of their age, has a chance to challenge themselves to take on new endeavors, by supporting the current generation to advance their careers, and assisting middle-aged and older workers in finding new employment, among other measures.
Based on the comments we received today, we will accelerate discussions towards finalizing the basic concept within the first half of next year.
The Government will compile a new economic policy package in early December. At the next meeting of this council in mid-December, I ask that you compile the interim report of the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society, taking into consideration of this policy package.”