The government plans to strengthen its support of recurrent education for working people hoping to change jobs during a challenging job market caused by the pandemic.
As there has been a greater risk of employment instability due to the pandemic, the government plans to provide an environment where people can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to make it easier for them to change jobs or find new employment. The program also aims to create more options for ways of working.
"There are companies that continue to grow even amid the coronavirus pandemic," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy held at the Prime Minister's Office in mid-April. "We will expand opportunities for people to acquire skills to move to new workplaces."
The government plans to include specific measures to strengthen recurrent education in the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform to be decided in as early as June.
Recurrent education refers to the practice of working people, job seekers and the unemployed studying at educational institutions or improving their skills through in-house training to enhance their knowledge and skills.
The surplus workforce held by Japanese companies rose to 2.38 million in the October-December 2020 period, and more and more companies are offering early retirement and buyouts, according to an estimate by the Cabinet Office.
In response to the pandemic, the government is implementing special measures for employment adjustment subsidies to help companies pay allowances to workers who have been put on leave due to the virus. Although these measures have curbed the unemployment rate, the special measures will be phased out in stages after May. There are fears companies may start to cut back on their workforce in the future, observers said.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will start this fiscal year subsidizing universities, junior colleges and other institutions that provide free re-learning opportunities for unemployed and nonregularly employed young people, on the condition they study information technology and nursing care fields for two to six months while balancing their job search and current work.
In cooperation with a company that trains IT engineers, a Tokyo-based certified nonprofitable organization, Single Mothers Forum, has been offering free online courses for single mothers to obtain relevant certifications since January. So far 90 people have applied for the courses.
"More and more people have financial concerns due to the pandemic," an official of the NPO said. "In the IT industry, where there is a labor shortage, many people can work from home, so I think it will be easier for them to balance work and child rearing."
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