Supporting the elderly in a ‘super-aged’ society: Japan Part 2

In Part 1, Japan was referred to as a ‘super-aged’ society in which around a third of the total population are over the age of 65 while the birth rate is declining sharply. The majority of those elderly workers that continue to work face unstable, irregular employment conditions and low wages.

Legislation in Japan was passed in early 2020 to incentivise employers to secure job opportunities for their employees until they turn seventy. This is expected to become law by 2022.

These measures being promoted by the Japanese government include for companies to give commissions to their former employees who start their own business; providing freelance work, or getting them to take part in Corporate Social Responsibilities activities in which the companies will be involved. However, as employers are not yet being penalised if they don’t implement these measures, this raises questions as to how effective existing legislation will be in enabling more people to stay in the labour market longer.

I interviewed Professor Hiroko Akiyama of the Department of Gerontology, University of Tokyo for this series. She is playing a pivotal role in looking beyond the challenges posed by an ageing society by galvanising local and central government and businesses to value the positive contribution the elderly can make to society and the economy.

In Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, 40 kilometres from central Tokyo, she has co-developed a model for ageing in place with promoting ‘second life employment’ among many initiatives. I will analyse this in depth in a later blog.

Professor Akiyama has identified support staff for the long-term care for elderly both at home and in nursing care institutions as being a “vital sector where healthy older people can contribute significantly providing they can work comfortably within their capabilities. No age limit needs to be set for recruiting older staff. Among the most important qualities - especially for social-care home visits such as shopping, cooking, house cleaning and so on is the ability to listen; to be useful and reliable, to have empathy - qualities that older people most definitely have.” she explains.

It also allows for the recruitment and training for specific (part time) roles such as carers in nursing homes. The result is an increasingly shift or ‘formalisation’ from what used to be mainly voluntary role to part time work among the elderly.

This Japanese model can be considered as a possibility to emulate in other countries because it partially solves the shortage of staff for home care and nursing care while also finding meaningful ‘second life employment’ for older people that want to contribute. One priority if it is adopted is to provide a fair compensation structure to avoid exploitation and discourage high dropout rates.

Another initiative rolled out across Japan is “Silver Human Resources Centres (SHRC)”. These are publicly funded, municipally run job agencies with paid employment for seniors. The primary goal of such centres is to give seniors “a motivation in life” and a means to help revitalise their communities, and handle requests from local citizens for jobs at a reasonable cost. These vary widely and include gardening, carpentering and tutoring of school subjects among others.

The clients of SHRC can rarely secure jobs matching those they had before, but they do benefit from support in redeploying their experience and skills into new work.

Small businesses in Japan, which are at a disadvantage compared to large companies in the competition for young talent, have shown to be especially keen to recruit older workers where customer relations and experience is valued such as local retail stores and restaurants.   

The Japanese experience highlights the importance of career guidance and a practical support structure including a reasonable compensation for older workers. Similar to school-leavers, senior workers can benefit from support in transitioning into work which matches their skills, interests and personal circumstances, not least in making them available to help their ‘peers’ to age well and comfortably at home.