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On May 30, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe jointly held the Follow-Up Meeting on the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens and the Follow-up Meeting for the Work Style Reform, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on the progress of the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens and the progress of the Action Plan for the Realization of Work Style Reform.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“The most important challenge of the Abe Cabinet is to realize a society in which all people, including the elderly and the young, men and women, as well as people with disabilities and those suffering from intractable diseases, can participate and are dynamically engaged.
 
Work style reform, which is the toughest agenda among the challenges to realize a society in which all citizens are dynamically engaged, has entered into full swing, including the implementation of regulations on the maximum hours of overtime work permitted, with penalties attached, for large corporations, from this April. Furthermore, we have achieved the passage of a set of bills at the Diet for making early childhood education free of charge from this October and providing access to higher education for those children truly in need from next April, and taken a significant step towards the establishment of a social security system in which all generations can enjoy peace of mind.
 
Nevertheless, we must advance these measures further still.
 
With regard to securing employment opportunities up till the age of 70, as was mentioned by the expert members of this meeting, we will aim to amend the law so as to enable healthy and motivated elderly people to play active roles in society, while fully taking into consideration the views of the relevant stakeholders, including employers and labor representatives.
 
As for work style reform, we will advance measures towards smoothly implementing the relevant laws and preparing an environment in which people with disabilities and foreign nationals can be dynamically engaged.
 
In addition, we will fundamentally strengthen support for the ‘employment ice-age generation.’ We will compile a three-year intensive program by this summer, and the Government will work as one to expand opportunities for them.”
 
I would like the relevant ministers to work with a sense of speed to implement further measures, while taking into account the views expressed by the expert members today.