Pension Provision for Specific Risk Groups: The Japanese Case

The growing variety of possibilities in one life course raises coverage, fairness and social adequacy questions about existing public pension provision. This paper examines problems of drop-out, full-time housewives, carers, divorced or remarried people and those engaged in atypical work in Japan. A possible solution will be a universal basic pension financed by a consumption-based tax. It is also advisable to expand social security coverage of the earnings-related pension to any earners irrespective of their earnings amount, if any. In implementing this provision, an integrated single social security pension number for each person is required, and this has already been introduced in Japan. The 1999 government reform plan for pensions is also mentioned.