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© KYODOGov't to urge firms to help employees undergoing fertility treatment
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© KYODO
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Chip Star
When will the Japanese government learn that urging is ineffective? Form over substance.
Yubaru
Right, a private money making enterprise should invest in assisting their employees, in the case of many women, to quit their jobs for a year or two, just to appease some government "urge"? Not saying all will quit, yet many do, and not to mention the fact that the business will need to hire and train a replacement or force others to cover while the employee is on maternity leave.
Sure they do it already, BUT they should need to PAY people to have babies!
Once again just shows how ignorant koumuin are regarding the day to day life of "regular" working people!
Yubaru
(They should NOT need to pay people have babies!) Sorry...fat fingers this AM
Chip Star
If the government truly cared about this, it would heavily subsidize fertility treatment.
Drako
Japan keeps pushing for people to have kids As I stated before, these are the changes that need to be made in order for the birthrate to rise.
Step 1: Jobs need to pay higer wages.
Step 2: Jobs need to be required to work not so many hours.
Step 3: Free Education -Kintergarden to 12th Grade-Inexpensive School Uniforms.
Step 4: Give mothers, fathers PAID maternity leave. Let fathers take leave with no reprocussions.
Step 5: People will have more children if you do the above.
drlucifer
Drako,
How about spacious and affordable housing, they don't expect people to have kids and live in cardboard size housing.
warispeace
If we consider historically the extreme population rise in Japan and how this led to the colonization of neighbouring countries and war and to Japan's continued subservience to the US Post WWII to sustain access to food and other resources, then the government would be wise to promote depopulation to a level of much greater self-sufficiency. Though this is not a call to maintain the draconian neoliberal labour standards.
IloveCoffee
@Drako
You forgot Step 0: Jobs need to be created first.
How about you create a single job first before you tell others what to do? Create your own business, hire people, and then pay them high wages for little work, also pay for their social security, education, everything. When you do that, come let me know.
kohakuebisu
I'm going to come at this from another angle and say that it should be fine that people quit their jobs to have fertility treatment. It should be fine that people quit to have children and raise them when they are young. It should be fine that people quit and spend a year or a few years pursuing a dream they have.
The problem in Japan is that for many, the job they get out of college is the best and only chance they'll ever have. They have to cling to it because once it's gone, it's gone baby. Unless you've got a list of vocational qualifications, you ain't ever getting employed on those conditions again. So if you are a general manager, salesperson, customer services rep, etc. something that doesn't give you the on-paper qualifications a nurse, accountant, or architect. has, you will struggle to find anyone who will re-employ you on anything like the same terms. A woman who has married late and quit for fertility treatment will also be greeted with lots of job ads saving "up to 35". So much for the "labor shortage".
These are changing times, and the idea that you spend your entire life at one company is increasingly outdated. It is bad for both companies, who face rapidly changing circumstances, and for employees, especially those of talent who have transferable skills. Like other areas in Japan, it benefits the mediocre, companies that do not deserve or poorly treat their skilled workers and workers who are unsackable but have no skills that are relevant in 2019.
Do the hustle
This government is seriously demented! There is a major labor shortage and they are encouraging women to join the workforce. However, due to the declining birthrate they also want women to have babies without addressing the lack of childcare facilities, low salaries and cost of natal care. I’m sure I’m not the only one to see the stupidity in this. They want everything, but do nothing to get it. Flipping idiots!
drlucifer
Kohakuebisu and the hustle.
Could not have said any better.
See how they are dragging their legs increasing the minimum pay to 1,000yen. The bureaucrats and ruling clique don't care one bit about the livelihood of the general working populace. If you think they do then you need your brains checked. Can anyone name only one legislation or policy that favors the populace over J-inc, I can't think of any.
papigiulio
This. Me and the missus have done both IUI? 12 times and IVF 2 times costing us and arm and a leg without any success. Wasted money. Made love naturally one night after we gave up and BOOM, jackpot.
But, the problem is not only this. People are getting kids later because they marry later which is mostly due to their busy worklife.
I think the government should not only subsidize these treatments but also help give people time to relax and procreate which helps even more.
Luddite
Time is the issue. If working couples 'have difficulty balancing work and fertility treatment' imagine how difficult things will be if they do have a child. These initiatives are useless unless you change the work and gender balance mindsets here.
chugmagaga
What does the Japanese Govt do: urge, suggest, and recommend. I seldom see a real action on the part of the Govt. There are so many real problems that needs real actions.
Drako
How about you create a single job first before you tell others what to do? Create your own business, hire people, and then pay them high wages for little work, also pay for their social security, education, everything. When you do that, come let me know.
Drako
Drako,
How about spacious and affordable housing, they don't expect people to have kids and live in cardboard size housing.
Jonathan Prin
Make love often and in good shape (not tired from being a workaholic and young).
It is not a specific Japanese thing.
My uncle and auntie, and my brother and his partner had same pattern: they tried for long years and once they think of something else, it happens.
Of course, in Japan both physical environment (lack of normal place to get couple se.x) and social conditions make it harder.
And indeed it is not companies to help but the State. Their interest are sometimes opposite, which is the case here.
JJ Jetplane
Urging firms to help seems strange to me. Currently, most fertility options are not covered under insurance in Japan. So asking companies to help when the health insurance from the government doesn’t help sounds like a cry on deaf ears.
First these options need to be covered under insurance.
Next, you have to tackle the issues as to why people don’t really want children. The number one factor is affordability.
Next, they have no time to spend with children even if they can afford it.
These things will continue to be an issue until the government does something about it.
IloveCoffee
Because jobs need to be created first, and since you demand a lot from employers, why not become one instead? Since you seem to know how to run a profitable business that pays "decent wages", why not become one instead of teaching how others should run their business?