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Most Japanese Distrust Pension System: Survey
China View
August 1, 2004
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Up to 71 percent of Japanese distrusted the national pension system and 83 percent were worried about their life after retirement, both hitting record high, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey showed Sunday.
The result suggested that the ongoing pension reform campaign led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is in serious frustration.
The figures were about 20 percentage points higher than those in 1997, said the paper.
In a bid to keep sustainable a pension system weighed down by an aging society, Japan endorsed a set of pension reform bills in June to add premiums and cut benefits in the more than ten years ahead. But they were vehemently opposed by the public and the opposition parties.
As for whether to increase consumption tax rate to sustain the pension system, views were evenly divided as 50 percent of respondents favored the move and 48 percent rejected, according to the paper.
Koizumi reiterated on Thursday that he would not seek a tax hike within his tenure ending in 2006. Japan's consumption tax rate currently stands at 5 percent.
The poll also found 53 percent of the respondents said social welfare benefits that are focused on the elderly should be shifted to younger generations, while 39 percent opposed the idea.
The elders aged over 65 account for about 18 percent in the population, while the birth rate has been dropping. Younger people complain that they are under heavier work pressure but see income shared by the old people.
The survey was conducted on July 17 and 18 on 3,000 eligible voters, of whom 1,901 responded.
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