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On May 15, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 27th meeting of the Council on Investments for the Future at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on promoting the employment of elderly persons and recruitment of mid-career and experienced professionals under the social security system oriented to all generations, as well as the key points to be addressed in the overview of the Growth Strategy.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we first discussed the promotion of the employment of elderly persons and the recruitment of mid-career and experienced professionals under the social security system oriented to all generations. As we are entering the 100-year life society, we aim to revise the law in order to secure employment opportunities up till the age of 70, so that healthy and motivated elderly people can fully utilize their experience and wisdom in our society. In doing so, as Mr. Torisawa, who spoke on behalf of small and medium-size enterprises, pointed out, it is necessary to provide a wide range of options corresponding to the skills and conditions of the elderly, unlike employment for people up to the age of 65. We intend to make available a wide range of options through employment at other companies, support for self-employment and launching a new business as well as various social contribution activities, in addition to the extension of the retirement age and the introduction of a continued employment system. To begin with, we will proceed with our preparation so as to submit a bill to promote efforts to secure employment until the age of 70 at the ordinary session of the Diet next year, after the deliberations at the Labor Policy Council. Furthermore, we will firmly implement measures to secure labor supply in the regions outside the major cities and promote the recruitment of mid-career and experienced professionals.  
 
Secondly, toward the compilation of the Growth Strategy this summer, we discussed our basic position, based on the concrete measures for each sector that we have discussed over nine sessions to date. To improve Japan’s productivity and materialize robust economic growth, harnessing the fourth industrial revolution to the fullest extent possible, it is necessary to entirely rebuild our socioeconomic system. In particular, it is necessary to advance structural reforms from an in-house approach that encloses human resources and technologies to an open innovation model that is more open and collaborative. In doing so, it is extremely important to develop human resources equipped with creativity and other relevant capabilities, so as to produce new employment opportunities amidst the growing polarization of the labor market. With respect to work style, as Mr. Nakanishi presented a report on this point today, it is also important to review the traditional recruitment practice to hire new college graduates en masse every year as well as expand the recruitment of mid-career and experienced professionals, promote side jobs and multiple jobs, and provide sole proprietors with greater opportunities. I would like to ask Minister Motegi and Minister Seko, in cooperation with the relevant ministers, to give these a final touch towards the compilation of the Growth Strategy.”