“Half Welfare, Half Employment” in Living Allowances and Public Assistance

Abstract

“Half Welfare, Half Employment” has attracted attention because of the increasing number of blue-collar workers and white-collar employees who, despite having jobs, cannot secure healthy, socially integrated lives by means of their wages alone because of the increasing instability of employment. Non-regular jobs now account for 40 percent of all employment, and real wages have stagnated as a result. For these workers and employees, in conjunction with labor-related policy measures such as increasing the minimum wage, it is important to provide employment support in tandem with measures for ensuring a minimum standard of living through “Half Welfare, Half Employment.”

On the basis of discussions by bodies such as the Social Security Advisory Council on means of providing living allowances and support for independent living, as well as public assistance, to the disadvantaged, this report argues that to advance “Half Welfare, Half Employment,” it is necessary to ease and expand the eligibility requirements by, for example, widening the scope of both systems while operating them in an integrated manner and providing seamless support.