Labor crunch, low birthrate in spotlight of election campaigning

Bullsnot, the "focus" in this election has been about how much Abe is going to win, and how he will finally be able to realize his dream of changing the constitution.

Funny how people view two-income households as a good thing. No, thanks! Putting more and more people on the treadmill ain't gonna solve bigger problems.

We need to ask why one single income middle-class households were the norm before, but now those households have to work twice as hard just to get by.

Because the productive population (16-60) is declining considerably and the hole needs to be filled by women, foreigners, AI and work style reform.

Oxymoron of the century: japanese democracy.

Anyhow Japan needs not fear, Abe,s free education by 2020 promise will be " delayed" and pushed back by unexpected / changed economic circumstances before long.

The only constant re his promises is constitutional change everything else either gets shafted or done chuutohanpa.

Took the words right out of my mouth brother!

We need to ask why one single income middle-class households were the norm before, but now those households have to work twice as hard just to get by.

Exactly! Unfortunately, this is one question Abe will not answer

So basically work more , pump out more babies and worship abenomics.

makes perfect sense!!

Not enough schools, not enough workers, not paid enough... illegal overtime everywhere!

As usual the media shy away from the actual story, Abe wins because change is abhorrent for a population trained to accept "normality". Article 9 is nothing compared to what Nippon Kaigi (shhh don't mention them) has planned. See their web site apparently 1930s is the go. There is a plethora of problems not even being discussed. Oh well TV has cute commercials so not all bad!

The focus is on gaining more power to change the Constitution, and that’s all... except maybe to acknowledge they will raise taxes. The election is an excuse to call everything Abe wants to do “mandated”, and to avoid any drawn out debate (or any for that matter).

They know the problems and the solutions but they are not willing to change their island mentality. They cannot think out of the box. I don't blame the politicians for that, most of the people are like that.

I'd be prepared to bet an awful lot that as soon as the election is over, and the elderly reelect Abe and his ilk, there won't be another mention of the labour crunch and the demographic timebomb until the next time an election is called.

Still it's nice to see Edano acknowledged. All I've read for a while on JT is how impressed everybody is with Abe's performance.

There is no shortage of labor in Japan. This is pure myth. What there is a shortage of is decently-paid, relatively stable jobs. Provide such jobs, and they will be filled quickly by Japanese. (More immigration is certainly not the answer.)

There is no shortage of labor in Japan. This is pure myth. 

If by "labor", you mean poorly educated, unproductive "yes-men", you are indeed correct.

major political parties are ... promising to make ... child daycare services free even as they differ on how to fund it.

There is insufficient supply of childcare service as things stand, and the politicians are promising to now make such services "free". Any economics 101 student can tell whether this will make the supply shortage problem better or worse.

I strongly believe that the shortage of service this is due to the high degree of centralized government involvement in service provision (or I should say, their attempts to provide it).

"Making education free sounds good, but it depends on where the money will come from," said a 40-year-old woman in Tokyo. "If future generations have to pay it back later, I'm not so sure."

This is a wise woman. Japan is burdened down by legacy, unsustainable "welfare" systems that now desperately need to be reformed, not only for future generations but today's suffering generation as well.

The systems should be reformed so that funding for services comes from savings, rather than from tax revenues. People who are in need of childcare services earn income - a portion of which could go to paying for childcare services, if it were not taxed away from them and squandered by the failing government in the first place. Tax revenues should be for the purpose of providing a safety net for those in need of support, not attempting to provide service to everyone for free.

Ikumi Murata, a 35-year-old Tokyo resident, believes it is a "clear and bold" move for Japan to have higher tax rates to achieve sustainable childcare support and alleviate future worries.

Nice in theory, but useless in practice given the centralized bureaucracy can't provide sufficient day care services as things stand. In addition to worsening reported service shortages, it would create an even bigger disparity between those lucky enough to get a spot in childcard services and those who miss out. Why should those who miss out on service have to share the cost of making it free for the lucky ones? 

... and people complain about inequality and unfairness these days.

Murata says she does not want to end up doing only child-rearing and household work. She is thinking of finding a job, probably part-time, to prevent her work from becoming an excessive burden.

Sorry Murata-san, but as you are living in Tokyo and want to get childcare service so that you can work part-time, you have little chance of success, under the current central bureaucracy system. 

On the other hand, if the system were reformed, and more diverse childcare services came to be provided under a decentralized system, then things would be different for you.