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On April 13, 2021, the Prime Minister held the fourth meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2021 at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants engaged in discussions on investments in human resources (Human New Deal), acceleration of digitalization, as well as promotion of mutual help.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

 “Today, we held discussions on the acceleration of digitalization and safety nets including employment.

Regarding My Number Cards, a basic infrastructure toward digitalization, there were around seven million applications for the cards in March. The figure is the largest ever. Based on the application, the penetration rate has reached 36 percent. We will improve the convenience of My Number Cards, by integrating health insurance cards and driver’s licenses into My Number Cards and installing a build-in My Number Card function on smartphones as specified in a bill under deliberation.

Taking advantage of the trends toward digitalization, a number of companies continues to grow despite the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Against this backdrop, we will expand online courses in order to double the number of participants in the Support System for Job Seekers, which allow them to receive a monthly subsidy of 100,000 yen while taking part in vocational training. We will also discuss the expansion of the program that allows people to advance their career while working by taking classes of universities and vocational schools under education and training grant programs.

In addition, I believe non-profit organizations (NPOs) and others play a vital role as a bridge between the Government and those on the frontline in support of people in need and others. With the increasing needs of these activities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recently allocated a budget of unprecedented six billion yen. Going forward, the relevant ministries and agencies will continue to make concerted efforts to provide necessary assistance. We will also improve the provision of support for NPOs utilizing dormant deposits to achieve a wide-spread use of the scheme.

Our public and private sectors will stand side-by-side in swiftly extending a helping hand to those in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we will make all-out efforts to create a society that will lead to the next growth.”