Tokyo’s government is introducing a four-day workweek for its staffers in the capital as part of a nationwide push to encourage parenthood.
Japan‘s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the country’s stubbornly low birth rate a ‘quiet emergency’ and has pledged policies like flexible working hours.
The expectation that working mothers should still shoulder domestic burdens, raise children and care for relatives is believed to be a key factor behind the dearth of babies.
To make work-life balance easier for parents, city governor Yuriko Koike plans to offer civil servants employed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government the option to work a shortened week beginning in April.
‘Lagging behind in women’s empowerment is Japan’s long-standing issue, and overcoming the status quo and making society more diverse and prosperous is key for our bright future,’ she said in a policy speech to the assembly.
‘We will start with thorough support for work-life balance by introducing a more flexible working hour system, such as three holidays per week,’ she added.
Under the plan, government staff except shift workers may take up to three days off weekly, but will still need to complete 155 hours per month, Sachi Ikegami, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government official in charge of personnel affairs said on Wednesday.
Employees raising young children will also be offered more flexible hours, with work days shortened by up to two hours, Ikegami added.
To make work-life balance easier for parents, city governor Yuriko Koike plans to offer civil servants employed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government the option to work a shortened week
The fertility rate, which is the number of children born per woman of childbearing age, in the UK and Japan
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the country’s stubbornly low birth rate a ‘quiet emergency’ and has pledged policies like flexible working hours
A four-day workweek is rare in Japan but gradually catching on in local governments seeking to strengthen support for parents.
While many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, the problem is particularly acute in Japan where the population has declined for 15 straight years.
There were 758,631 babies born in 2023, a 5.1 per cent decline from the previous year.
It was the lowest number of births in Japan since the country started compiling statistics in 1899.
The fertility rate, which is the number of children born per woman of childbearing age, dropped to of 1.2 in 2023, according to Japan’s health and labour ministry.
A rate of 2.1 is needed for a population to remain stable.
One key reason for the declining births is a drop in the marriage rate. There were 489,281 marriages last year, a 5.9 per cent decline from the previous year.
It marks the first time in 90 years that the Japanese marriage rate has fallen below half a million.
Surveys show that younger Japanese are shying away from marriage or having families because of bleak job prospects, the high cost of living and corporate cultures that are incompatible with having both parents at work.
The country has the world’s second-oldest population after Monaco, and its relatively strict immigration rules mean it faces growing labour shortages.
Fifty years ago, Japan’s birth rate peaked at around 2.1million and it has been falling ever since.
As a result, Japan’s population of around 125million is projected to fall by around 30 per cent to 87million by 2070. Four out of 10 people will be aged 65 or older.
Koike, a former minister and television anchor who has governed one of the world’s biggest cities since 2016, won a third term in July on vows to boost Tokyo’s social welfare benefits while acknowledging challenges like inflation and the plummeting birth rate.
Her administration plans to submit a draft proposal on the flexible working hours to the Tokyo assembly next year.