On December 5, Next Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Masahiko Yamada and DPJ Non-Regular Employment Measures Project Team Leader Ritsuo Hosokawa, made the following statement:

On December 5, the Amended Labor Standards Law was passed by the House of Councillors. The Law stipulates mandatory overtime rates of 50% for overtime worked in excess of 60 hours per month. The original bill submitted by the government proposed that the threshold for increasing overtime rates from 25% to 50% should be in excess of 80 hours a month, but the decision to establish the threshold at "60 hours per month" was taken following consultations between the DPJ and the ruling coalition.

The government proposal was submitted to the 166th ordinary session of the Diet and was debated at the House of Representatives Health, Labor and Welfare Committee during the 168th extraordinary session of the Diet together with the Labor Contract Law and Amended Minimum Wage Law (both of which were eventually passed into law following DPJ amendments to the original government proposal).

The DPJ proposed immediately increasing Japan's rates of overtime pay, which are low by international standards, to 50% based on our view that it is important to raise overtime rates so as to effectively reduce the percentage of employees working long hours. On the other hand, the government only proposed introducing 50% overtime rates after employees had worked in excess of 80 hours a month, a stance which did nothing to encourage a good work-life balance.

The DPJ, standing in the shoes of working people, tried to force the ruling coalition to give as much ground as possible during debate. Then, after deciding that it was a priority to see the law enacted, the DPJ proposed revisions and achieved agreement on the amended threshold of "60 hours a month". Common sense suggests that employees should not be working such hours and we feel that our position has been reflected in the bill to a certain extent as we aim to improve work-life balances. We will continue to press the government to provide fine-tuned support for the smooth enactment of the amended law including the establishment of targets that small and medium-sized businesses will be obliged to try and meet.

Labor hours are very closely related to employee health. Long working hours lead to the deterioration of both mental and physical health and do not bring individual happiness. Furthermore, long hours also have an adverse effect on corporations by causing declining productivity, falling employee motivation and, over the medium- to long-term, a decline in the company's ability to attract competent workers. Neither can we overlook the links between long working hours and problems which affect society as a whole such as the falling birth rate and changes in community and family life. The new law will also allow employees to take their annual paid holiday leave in hourly increments under certain conditions, but during the committee debates we confirmed that the true purpose of the annual leave system is to allow workers to recover from fatigue by taking leave in full day increments. The DPJ is fully committed to creating a better work-life balance in Japanese society, under which everyone can enjoy safety, security and good health. We are fighting to reduce excessive working hours, to increase the percentage of annual leave allowances used by employees and also to address health problems, including death from overwork, suicide from overwork and mental health issues.