National Personnel Authority

1. Purposes

Workers who retire at the age of 60 in and after FY 2013 will have a period without public pension benefits in both public and private sectors. Basically, workers who retire at the age of 60 in and after 2021 will receive no public pension benefits for five years after retirement.

In the private sector, enterprises are obliged by laws and regulations to abolish the retirement age system, raise the retirement age from 65 gradually, or introduce a re-employment system. In addition, various support measures have already been institutionalized to respond to the re-employment needs and reduction of income later in life.

In the public sector, coordination between the employment and pension systems and improvement of the environment for public employees to devote themselves to their duties without concern about post-retirement life have become an important issue.

In the report at the time of the Remuneration Recommendation made in August this year, the NPA referred to the necessity of comprehensive consideration on the measures to secure employment of aged national public employees, with an eye on FY 2013, based on continued employment until the age for the start of pension payments as has been introduced in the private sector.

In view of this, the NPA holds the subject workshop to consider how to secure employment of aged national public employees from a broad spectrum.

2. Major Agenda

The workshop considered the following matters comprehensively to improve the environment to secure employment of aged national public employees, based on the conditions of private enterprises and by reference to situations in foreign counties.

1. Coordination between the employment and pension systems
2. Relationship between the number of incumbent employees and the number of new employees associated with the increase of aged national public employees
3. Efforts to change the remuneration system as is done by private enterprises
4. Appointment of senior officials paying attention to activation of organizations
5. Consideration of duties suitable for aged national public employees
6. Diverse work patterns to respond to the increase of aged national public employees
7. Supportive measures to respond to the re-employment needs among aged national public employees and their decreased income later in life

3. Participants

The Director of the NPA Employee Welfare Bureau commissions study of the above agenda to persons of learning and experience. (In Japanese alphabetical order excluding the chair and deputy chair)

Chair:

Atsushi Seike, Professor of the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University

Deputy chair:

• Masahiko Iwamura, Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo
• Hiroaki Inatsugu, Professor of the Okuma School of Public Management, Waseda University
• Takeshi Uemura, Deputy Chief Editorial Writer of Yomiuri Shimbun
• Masako Kurosawa, Professor of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
• Koichi Sugiyama, Advisor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Hiroyuki Fujimura, Professor of Hosei Business School of Innovation Management
• Nobuhiko Murase, Zennorin advisor

4. Workshop Schedule

The first workshop was held on September 7, 2007 (Friday). The workshop is held roughly once a month. Results will be consolidated in July 2009.