• 
• 

[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the eighth meeting of the Council for the Realization of Work Style Reform, at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, there was a discussion on the topic of the acceptance of foreign personnel and other matters.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Today we held a discussion on the overall themes that had not been raised so far, such as the topic of the acceptance of foreign personnel. Today marks the eighth meeting of the Council for the Realization of Work Style Reform since its establishment, and the final occasion for discussions on individual themes.

I have been stating that work style reform involves changing Japan's corporate culture, the lifestyles of Japanese people, and Japan's way of thinking in regard to working. Various business and labor customs have been established based on working long hours. In order to change them, it is necessary for the Government, labor, and management to precisely become the three arrows and work collectively.

Further, the Labor Policy Council has long discussed the issue of regulating the maximum hours of overtime work permitted with penalties attached to the regulations, but it has not reached a conclusion. That means that, even if we forcibly reached some kind of conclusion here, it would be submitted to the Labor Policy Council and once again a conclusion would not be reached there.

Therefore, this Council for the Realization of Work Style Reform was established with me taking responsibility as the Chair, and we have been holding discussions.

Both labor and management know best the situation of the workforce, and I would like to ask them both to consider the maximum hours of overtime work that would be effective for workplaces and just barely feasible.

Today we heard from both Chairman Sakakibara and President Kozu. I would like to again express my respect to both of them for their considerable efforts towards achieving an agreement. I too am resolved to exert efforts. In order to ensure that all the efforts expended until now do not go to waste, I would like to ask that thorough efforts are made towards the formation of an agreement.

Concerning the acceptance of foreign personnel, we have maintained the view that it is important for Japan to actively accept foreign personnel in specialized and technical fields, since they contribute to the vitalization of Japan's economy and society. Meanwhile, in regard to the acceptance of foreign personnel in fields that are not evaluated as specialized or technical, Japan has upheld the position that this matter should be reviewed not only by assessing the needs and verifying the economic effects, but also from a broad perspective that encompasses a range of factors such as influence on the employment of Japanese people, impact on industry structure, social costs such as education and social security costs, and public order, while taking into account the consensus of the people. I ask for your cooperation in compiling the action plan based on this viewpoint. Thank you.”