Day-care facilities that will temporarily look after children during the upcoming 10-day holiday will be provided a subsidy of 2,260 yen per child per day, according to a government decision learned by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The amount is nearly three times as much as the regular subsidy for weekends and holidays of 800 yen. The government hopes the increased subsidy will make it easier for facilities to secure childcare staff and accept more children during the holidays, which will start on April 27.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will provide the subsidies to nursery schools, kindergartens and other such facilities after the holidays, based on their reports received through local governments on how many children they accepted. The ministry expects most of the additional money will be used for increasing the staff's salaries.
However, it is unclear whether nationwide childcare facilities will be able to secure enough workers. Regarding childcare workers across the nation, on average there were 3.57 times more job openings than job applicants as of February. A staffing shortage has been severe, particularly in urban areas. The struggle of facilities to procure staff is expected to continue during the 10-day holiday.
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