Japan to Support Firms Promoting Side Jobs, Job Changes

Tokyo, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated on Tuesday that the government will establish a support system for companies that allow employees to have side jobs or promote job changes.

The move is aimed at facilitating labor mobility to achieve "structural wage growth" Kishida advocates.

The government will also set up a system to expand subsidies for companies providing ability development training for employees, the prime minister said at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting.

On a high-profile sexual harassment case involving a former female member of the Ground Self-Defense Force, Kishida admitted that responses to the case by a GSDF unit she belonged to and by the Defense Ministry were "inappropriate."

While referring to allegations that the SDF and the ministry tend to try to cover up scandals, the prime minister vowed efforts to eradicate such harassment.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]