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The COVID-19 pandemic has been having a severe impact on social and economic activity. The overall unemployment rate in Japan was 3.0% for both August and September—the first time it reached 3% since May 2017—and the unemployment rate for women aged 25 to 34 in particular that has notably worsened was 4.7% in August. Along with concerns that unemployment will continue to worsen, the possibility of increased inequality based on gender, age, and region has also been noted. How will the labor market change in 2021, and in what ways will people’s working styles change?

The FPCJ invited Dr. Hisashi Yamada, vice chairman of the Japan Research Institute (JRI), and Ms. Akiko Kojima, a specialist at the JRI’s Center for the Strategy of Emergence, both leading experts on labor issues, to discuss the effects the pandemic will have on the future of Japan’s labor market and what measures should be taken, as well as discussing changes to people’s working styles and labor participation by women and middle-aged and elderly people.

The briefing had a total of 27 participants including journalists from Belgium, Brazil, France,  Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Switzerland and the US.