Tokyo will have in 2025 new labor policies that reduce workload

As Japan has suffered a demographic crisis due to a overloaded population, Tokyo (the largest city in the country) will implement a new work policy from next April that will allow employees to work only one week of four days.

Implementation of new labor policies

The new employment policy aims to benefit workers from all spheres of life. Governor Yuriko Koike said this approach would strengthen well-being and allow workers to fulfill household duties and responsibilities and better take care of children.

“We will continue to review working methods adaptively to ensure that women do not need to give up their careers due to life events, such as the birth of a child”said Koike in a speech to The Japan Times.

The new policy occurs when Japan's birth rate reaches a record level earlier this year. The number of births in Japan was from 350,074 from January to June, a drop of 5.7% over the same period of 2023, according to the Ministry of Health, work and well-being.

In 2023, China's total fertility rate (the number of children a woman gives birth during her life) will be 1.2. Tokyo's birth rate is even lower, 0.99. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to keep the population reasonably stable, the birth rate must be 2.1. According to CIA statistics, the average age of Japanese citizens is 49.9 years. In the United States, the average age is 38.9 years.

Japan has taken drastic measures to reverse its low birth rate. Since the 1990s, governments have required companies to grant extensive parental licenses, dynamic subsidies for child care and monetary transfers to parents. Earlier this year, the Tokyo government launched its own dating app with the purpose of helping single women find a partner and get married.

The move to a four -day working week can help solve some key issues related to Japan's intense work culture, which is particularly honorable for working women. When it comes to housework, the pit between men and women is one of the most pronounced among the OECD countries. Japanese women have five times more unpaid tasks than men, including taking care of children and the elderly, according to a 2024 report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In some cases, it was found that a four -day working week improves equity in family activities. In the study of the 4 Day Week Global on weeks of four -day work in six countries, men reported a 22% increase in the time spent on children's care and an increase of 23% in the time spent on domestic work.

Flexible working hours and the ability to work remotely are often proposed to help women, especially those who work outside the home, balance work and family obligations. It is also important to note that there are some potential traps for women when it comes to teleworking.

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IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTIVITY

Peter Miscovich, the global chief of future work company JLL, said it would take a major social transformation to make four days more common. Research shows that reducing working hours one day a week can improve employee productivity and happiness.

“The benefits of all this include reducing stress, less fatigue, better rest, better sleep, lower expenses for the entrepreneur, greater ability to concentrate during working hours and, in some cases, improvement in contributions and productivity for the company as result. Great commitment “he said.

Tokyo's experience is part of Japan's wider efforts to mitigate the effects of aging in its population and create an environment conducive to birth rate growth. Cultural transformation and adaptability in the workplace become fundamental to this process, even if their long-term implications remain uncertain.

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