Japan's daycare shortage worsens for 3rd straight year

Abe's just hitting all those targets with his arrows, isn't he?

Thank you Shinzo for your commitment to your word, good job.

If your child has been on a waiting list for three years in 2017 and the target is for placement by 2020, your child will be able to get into daycare when he or she is six. Wait! That's when elementary school starts! Problem solved. Abe IS a genius. Oh, wait...

These facts discourage more women from having children. I see no hope in solving the low birthrate, if we can't even take care of the kids we have now. Abe- PM of promises and no action

Japan needs more forceful Eminent Domain style laws... one's where no matter how many people do not want a Daycare Center nearby due to the children's noise... the government can override their votes and put one in anyway. This is a significant problem but people only think of themselves far too often. I lived 10 meters from a playground... and every weekend when I wanted to sleep I was awakened by children's screams of joy... I told myself... heck... I was a pretty noisy kid to... who am I to deny them.

So nearly 50% of 1 and 2 year olds are in daycare, with this expected to rise to 60%. That's the level in the Scandi countries where women have much better jobs and people (are generally happy to) pay much more tax to fund public services. I think it is inefficient for Japan to fund childcare for under threes to allow women to work in non-career, low-paying jobs. It would make more sense to pay more child benefit and allow one parent to stay at home and look after, dare I say "bond", with the child. The lack of childcare for under threes is only one of many barriers to full female participation in the economy. Fixing this expensive problem alone will do little for women's career prospects.

Good thing child births are in decline (sarcasm).

Good old Japan, just keeps hoping the problems will solve themselves so the government needs to do nothing.

Start putting daycares in neighborhoods where the land can be bought and used. if the old people scream and shout (and they do, not seeing the irony in complaining about people being loud), take away any and all community funding and/or works projects in said area, and more if possible. The government is committing suicide by not doing something about this; needs women to work, but won't give them the facilities for their children while they do. Needs children, but won't give people the opportunity to work so the families can survive, because they have no place for the children to be taken care of while they do. It's a cyclical problem that, again, I think they hope will just solve itself. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are not far from suggesting that people start taking in their elderly parents instead of putting them in homes, so that the parents can watch their grandchildren, and the family can take care of the elderly without government assistance. Of course, they don't care about the illnesses and risks.

One of the reasons for the shortage is that people are fearful of opening or working in daycare centers.

There are endless internet reports of "monster parents" who berate the staff, demanding compensation when their darling little monster falls down while running wild because the monster kid is completely undisciplined by the parents and allowed to be a feral animal.

The government has decided to raise pay for daycare staffers

WTF is the government deciding what to pay daycare staff in the first place?

Government getting out of this business and allowing wages to be set by market rates would go a decent way to alleviating this supply shortage.

I'll say it again - it is ridiculous that government taxes me heaps to begin with, then charges me again for the daycare service I do get for one kid, while failing to provide me with any daycare service for the other kid at all.

Why not tax me less, and get government out of business so that free market operators can compete to provide me with services at a price to my satisfaction?

I cannot imagine that I could be less satisfied as a result than I am now. I am happy to pay more in order to get service, hear me!

Step 1) Use Eminent Domain like the rest of the planet so NIMBY's can't get in the way

Step 2) Daycare have the right to refuse care if the family is too much of a pain

Step 3) Call the police on weirdos who complain about happy children in the middle of the day

I wonder about the previous story about suicide amount school kids. I know lots of kids with a house key, and go home and stay by themselves. Also day care centers are kaotic I've been told. These kids are the future. This is a serious problem that needs to be sorted. I wonder if there is a connection between early childhood and school depression?

I lived 10 meters from a playground... and every weekend when I wanted to sleep I was awakened by children's screams of joy... I told myself... heck... I was a pretty noisy kid to... who am I to deny them. not to mention those same kids will be supporting your pension when you retire, let kids be kids, buy some ear plugs

Regarding fxgai's comments, childcare in Japan for under threes is very heavily subsidized. People typically pay under 30,000 yen a month, under 1,500 a day for 10.5 hours or care here in inaka, maybe longer in the city, with lunch, snacks, and consumables provided. It should be common sense, but one hundred yen an hour (!) to look after a baby is way below market rates. This is why child care is oversubscribed.

The going rate in a First World country without subsidies would be at least 100,000 yen a month, maybe 150,000 for a one year old. 100,000 is just under what many Japanese women earn, sometimes on purpose to remain dependent on their partners for their pension and healthcare. Based on what I know of inaka parents, there is no way they would routinely pay 100,000 a month, market rates, for childcare. They would be very offended by the suggestion. There is also no way inaka employers would start paying an extra 70,000 a month or more to take the place of the subsidy either.

So, the birth rate has been dropping rapidly, but the shortage in daycare has been increasing? Abe you are a fraud! Resign already!

Head in the sand, they are just ignoring the issue.

Reckless

That's it exactly! The society is not set up for mothers, or both parents if you prefer, to work to the demands made by many employers. Standard workers aren't supposed to take any days off at all. Working mothers have to burn theirs on tasks scheduled during office hours. That's before any personal sickness, sickness for their kids, and sickness for classmates that shuts down lessons and forces everyone to stay at home. My youngest's daycare has longer hours, far less PTA, and shorter holidays than my other two's elementary school. It is easier to work when you have a three year old than a seven year old.

Looks like a cottage industry opportunity, my neighbor watches 4 kids each day at $75.00 per week per kid. Husband works, wife stays home watching her kids and some others and she makes money. Hopefully they pay taxes on what might be over $15000.00 USD

Kohakuebisu, one can't look at the child care in isolation. Japan needs various reforms, all in one shot.

That some women want to refrain from earning too much money is because of the stupid tax system that incentivizes that behavior. It's not a reason against introducing market forces for day care, but for fixing the broken tax system.

That people using daycare service need to pay the same tax rates like everyone else, while receiving daycare services in return, plus extra, is silly. Why take money from people only to give it back to them in the form of (inadequate) service? Just let me and other parents keep the subsidy money in the first place. I'm not getting subsidized daycare for my second kid anyway because the current system dominated by government fails me and 90,000 other families. So just let me keep my money and I'll take my chances with a normal market oriented system instead. With extra money in pocket it is more affordable just like that. These market systems have been known to produce the correct amounts of butter at the right price too, and I'm more confident that it's work for daycare service provision, at least compared with the failed daycare system here.

Also I would expect daycare rates in the inaka would be cheaper than in the cities, due to general lower costs there. Rather than govt trying to make fees uniform for city and country families, just let the market set prices and demand and supply will balance out in each area quite well.

I don't mind paying some tax to assist those on really low incomes to access day care, but I don't want to pay tax for my own share and then find that I am not getting service in return for it. This system would be a scam if it were not a govt run one.