Besides these financial problems, there are still some additional problems to be worked out before the scheme starts. For instance, municipalities will be responsible for determining the eligibility of beneficiaries and the services they require. The eligibility criteria may differ from municipality to municipality, subject to its financial conditions and manpower availability. Despite this, the necessity of social support for the elderly and their families is so urgent that the government has decided to launch the system even with its defects.
Bridging Pensionable and Retirement Ages
It is anticipated among government pension planners that the discrepancy of pensionable ages among the various pension schemes will be eliminated by gradually raising the pensionable age to 65 in all public pension plans by the year 2013. Since the majority of older employees are required to retire from their firms at the age of 60, however, this pensionable age may pose serious difficulties unless the mandatory retirement age is raised accordingly and/or the employment opportunities for work after mandatory retirement are considerably expanded.
In an initiative that is consistent with these policy goals, the government of Japan has been implementing a variety of programs and measures aimed at facilitating the increase in mandatory retirement ages since the latter half of the 1980s. In 1986, it implemented the comprehensive Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment for Older Persons. This legislation established the goal of raising the mandatory retirement age at least to age 60 in every Japanese company. The law, however, did not include any significant sanctions for noncompliance.
In 1990, this law was substantially revised. Under the 1990 amended law, various subsidy programs for older workers have been developed to facilitate the transition to a retirement age of 65. In October 1990, for example, the Ministry of Labour began offering subsidies to companies that introduced policies such as raising the mandatory retirement age, employment extension, and reemployment in order to keep older workers on the payroll up to age 65.
In addition to these subsidy programs, the government of Japan has been offering a wide range of other programs to promote raising the mandatory retirement age and to increase employment opportunities for older workers. For instance, the Ministry of Labour has been organizing a series of regional meetings to make employers recognize the importance of solving employment problems faced by workers in their early sixties.
