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Japan to amend laws to help elderly work until 70

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37 Comments
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Help? This is complete BS from the government, they don't want to pay the pension!

19 ( +20 / -1 )

While their provisions are not mandatory...,

So why is legislation needed for this? Laws are about enforcement, making actions mandatory, issuing directives, making rules and standards legally binding. etc. This process seems like a waste of time, if not an abuse of the legislative system.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

I'm turning 60 in a few days.... now I know I'm getting old but to call me "elderly", you definitely wouldn't think of saying that to my face in a serious manner. Most of us are still in very good shape and can handle most jobs easily until the age of 70. The only reason corporations don't want to keep us on until 70 is because they want to retire us at 60 and then rehire us for half the pay the next day.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

Hopefully people will have saved enough by then so they don't have to work after 60.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

At an American company where I worked before, there was no forced retirement age for Americans. On the contrary, it was against the law and and fell on the age discrimination. They could work so long as they want and the company wanted them at the same time. I thought that was very reasonable. While for Japanese workers, it was very difficult for them to stay to work after they are demoted and their income considerably cut. Amongst all, It was psychologically difficult for them to work under a new young boss who worked under him before. It appeared Americans did not care about it. I felt differences of culture of the east and the west.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Laws to urge businesses.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Ah great, I have to work til I’m 70 now then?

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Japan's cabinet on Tuesday approved bills to urge businesses to let employees work until age 70

approved bills to urge businesses to let employees work until age 70?? you need a bill to approve a request that is completely unbinding?? What a useless cabinet. Utterly useless.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Urging businesses, what a joke. Companies don't want workers past 45.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Logging in to upvote Doug.

So long as you have seishain type lifetime employment and changing economic circumstances, you are going to have companies with unsackable dead wood all the way to retirement. Forcing companies to keep these people on longer on the same wages will simply force them to underpay younger workers. The seishain system benefits the mediocre, not the skilled.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

What they want and what they can get are two different things. The labor market is extremely tight in Japan and to fill necessary positions companies will need to turn to the elderly or have massive amounts of vacancies. Most people over 60 wish to continue working

this is a step in the right direction.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

In the old days, you could actually benefit financially from working into old age. Now, it's a necessity for survival.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

1) The government needs the old folks because they need more tax money. The pension system is collapsing.

2) Hopefully, it won't mean more job related accidents like hitting people with vehicles, collapsing traffic and security guards in the summer, and etc.

3) It also may mean old school workers with nothing else to do make it harder on all the less senior employees because they can. It may not be so bad if they are a low-tier employee; however, if they are higher-tier employee in a company that still rewards based on seniority then that could suck for everyone!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

People will be dropping dead in the rush hour trains due to fatigue....

4 ( +4 / -0 )

the JGOV will not find parade indefinitely, the demography problem will break the economic model.

Young people are tired of elderly power harassment, I guess this will extend as well.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

How many non-binding, urging "laws" (generally aka recommendations) does the Japanese cabinet approve compared to how many real (binding) laws?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Help? This is complete BS from the government, they don't want to pay the pension!

yep theyre just preparing the population for when they raise the pension age to 70

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That isn't help. It is forced labor.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

I plan to work into my 90s. I'll be 50 in a year, but wherever I go around the world, people think I'm in my late 20s. Your "age" is just the number of times you've ridden this planet around the sun, people. There is no big clock in the sky ticking away. Time is just a perception.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Help elderly work until 70? In most cases they don't have a choice because of that ridiculous pension scam. The headline should read, "to make elderly work until they are 70."

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It is wrong to arbitrarily set an age (70) as a person's expiration date. Let the person decide. Let the person who wants and is able to continue to work do so. In my case, as a university instructor, my salary is just a smidgeon more than any 21 year sold newbie fresh off the boat, so salary is really not an issue. I plan to look for universities not hidebound by this arbitrary 70 year old limit. If you saw me, you might think I was in my 50s.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Firms and government here are loathe to interfere with the panoply of unlevel playing field SOP that confer a significant cost advantage vis a vis their foreign counterparts. Service overtime, fear of taking time off and resigned acceptance about losing half of annual leave, the heavy reliance on low wage outsourcing. They will never willingly concede those advantages, and workers here will continue to pay the price.

Things will change only when the calculus of self interest dictates Japan start to reciprocate the West’s openness by extending worker’s rights taken for granted there to workers here. To expedite this, I propose that Japanese firms operating in Western countries be required to apply the same rules that apply here to their global operations.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Perfect market set for robots to replace humans in due course of years. Once the robots out number the humans there is no burden of pensions and social security for the governance. Ahhh..wait...never thought about robots running the administration eventually. Meanwhile I am trying to train my pet dogs and cats to do some of my office work related tasks.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japanese lifetime employment system helped the stability of Japanese society enabling people can build their life plans. As the jobs were relatively secure, they could buy houses on loans, and they could send their children to colleges when they became near 50 when their income was the peak. That became the things of the past in the rapidly changing economic environment. 20 or 30 years ago, in America, husband and wife working to sustain their livelihood already became the norm.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm turning 60 in a few days....

Happy birthday to you sir!

now I know I'm getting old but to call me "elderly", you definitely wouldn't think of saying that to my face in a serious manner.

I hope I can say that when I'm your age.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Allowing the elderly to work is the best idea. But some thing should change. The senior junior attitude should be re-written. The current style of shouting and anger towards the workers should be punished. I mean very strict laws towards any kind of power harassment. Then things will work. Other wise it will not work ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

All of U have not studied the japanese system , if u are a employee, u have too worked till u die because yr pension will not be enough to cover yr expenses. Minimum expenses in tokyo is 299,000 yen a month.Pls check for yrselves.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

My pension works out at 166,000 yen a month so no Tokyo life for me!

I’ll be heading to Bali....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Help them? Does anyone not see how this would enable dictators, I mean prime ministers to remain in power for years on end? Wouldn't smart immigration fix this problem instead of 'helping' worn out plebs?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

70!!! no way. even 50 yrs is enough. 45 is pushing it. A comfortable age for retirement is as proven 42. Your still young enough to enjoy and experience life without the worries of big banks, health, and all the rest of demise out there.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

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