Elderly Employment in Japan

◆The world’s leading industrialized nations as well as most Asian countries are all experiencing the aging of their populations. These countries are all confronted with a variety of problems which occur in aging societies, including how to handle the declining working-age population and rethinking the social security system. One possible answer lies in the labor force participation rate or employment rate of the elderly and how to increase it. Doing so could cancel out the decline in the working age population, at least to some extent. Moreover, income produced by the elderly would contribute to the support of domestic demand. If this is realized, it could help economies to avoid contracted equilibrium arising from both the supply and demand for labor. More elderly people continuing to work would mean more tax and social security payments, which would contribute to the relief of some of the pressure on the government’s fiscal situation. This scenario should be applicable to all countries whose societies are aging, though the concrete policies and established practices for carrying out would of course differ. There are many possible variations on this central theme.