Friday, August 8, 2003
Record pay cuts proposed for Japanese Govt employees
Associated Press Tokyo, August 8
Record pay cuts are being proposed for Japanese civil servants as government coffers feel the squeeze from ongoing economic troubles, officials said on Friday.
The recommendations by The National Personnel Authority, if implemented, would slash about 231 billion yen ($1.93 billion) in state costs from the current fiscal year's budget of 81.79 trillion yen ($681.58 billion), Finance Ministry spokesman Tetsuji Azuma said.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi backed the proposal on Friday, saying he intends to implement it, according to his spokesman Yu Kameoka.
"This recommendation is in line with the private sector's pay levels," Kameoka said.
The proposal recommends that monthly salaries be slashed by 1.07 per cent and yearly bonuses be reduced by about 5.4 per cent, according to a statement by the authority.
On average, that would mean a monthly pay cut of 4,054 yen ($33.80), it said.
It is the fifth straight year that the authority has pushed pay cuts and the second straight year it has called for monthly salary reductions.
Japan has been stuck in a long economic slowdown that has drained government coffers. A supplemental budget approved earlier this year set aside 2.5 trillion yen ($21.2 billion) to cover an expected shortfall in tax revenues, while public debt at 140 per cent of gross domestic product is the highest level for any industrialized nation.
Though there have been tentative signs of easing economic troubles, deflation -- a steady drop of prices that shrinks people's paychecks and corporate profits -- has persisted.
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