Analysis of Japan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the field of labour

Abstract

The Japanese government places great importance on measures to support people’s livelihood and business continuity under the COVID-19 disaster, and has adopted many measures, including benefits, but has not yet taken enough measures to prohibit contact between people in order to contain the transmission of the virus. As a result, although a sharp increase in unemployment has been avoided, the number of new infections per day has begun to rise again since the state of emergency was lifted. Unlike the Lehman Shock, the COVID-19 disaster is not a one-off event. Therefore, unless the coronavirus epidemic is contained, the impact of COVID-19 in Japan will take longer than expected. The article reviews social support measures for citizens and business assistance measures taken by the Japanese government in response to the pandemic. In particular, it provides information on support measures such as special lump-sum payments to citizens, temporary special allowances for families with children, and temporary special allowances for low-income single parent families. The latter benefit is paid to single parent families with low income to compensate for the increased burden of raising a child and the reduced income associated with COVID-19. Among the measures to support business, it is worth mentioning subsidies for change of work regime, loans on special conditions from the Japan Finance Corporation and private financial institutions and direct payments to businesses.