JEED

With a view to promoting the employment of the elderly, the following grants and financial incentives are available for eligible employers and employers' organizations.

Under the current circumstances, in which the labor force is predicted to decrease due to a rapid aging of the population and a decline in the birthrate, we must strive to utilize the knowledge and experience of elderly individuals who are still willing to work and make it possible for them to continue to work at companies in order to maintain the vitality of the Japanese economy and society. Although employers are already required by the Law concerning Stabilization of Older Persons(Elderly Employment Stabilization Law) to provide stable employment for the elderly until the age of 65, the so-called baby boom generation will begin to reach the age of 65 in 2012. As a result, it has become essential to amend or abolish systems and regulations requiring retirement at the age of 65 and promote a continual employment system for all employees who wish to work beyond the age of 70. Employers, employees, and our entire society must make efforts toward developing companies where people can work until 70.

Raising the retirement age to 65 or above and relevant measures entail financial burdens, such as reviewing the wage structure and developing job categories, and the burden on medium and small sized companies is particularly large. The "Incentives for Raising the Retirement Age" are provided in order to support such companies.

The following three types of incentives/subsidies are available:

(1) Incentives for Medium and Small Sized Companies for Raising the Retirement Age and Other Measures

In accordance with the elderly employment security measures stipulated in Section 1, Article 9 of the Elderly Employment Stabilization Law, certain incentives according to the systems implemented will be made available to businesses employing 300 or fewer regular employees covered by employment insurance that raise the retirement age to 65 or above, introduce a continual employment system for all who wish to work until 65 or above, or abolish their mandatory retirement policies.

(2) Grants for Model Companies for Elderly Employment

Grants are paid to employers who are recognized as producing major repercussions in the region by implementing model activities including expansion of new job categories, improvement of working conditions, and positive employment of the elderly aimed at 1) introducing a structure that enables employees to work up to or beyond the age of 70, or, 2) raising the retirement age to 65 or above, or introducing a continual employment system for all who have employment contract until the age of 65 and wish to continue working. The amount of grants is equivalent to one half of the costs required for implementation.

(3) Incentives for Enhancing Elderly Employment Security

Incentives proportionate to the costs required for implementation and the accomplishments achieved are offered to employers' organizations that implement supportive measures including provision of counseling, and information, for their member companies for enhancing employment security measures, including the introduction of elderly employment security measures (the raising of the retirement age of up to 65 years old and above, the introduction of continuing employment systems, or the abolishment of a mandatory retirement age), the raising of the upper age limit, the expansion of persons to which the measures are applied, and other such policies, or for making other necessary modifications to employment environments for the elderly.