He had proposed expanding the so-called “discretionary work system,” under which employees receive benefits for a fixed amount of overtime hours, regardless of how much they actually work. This was part of efforts to reduce Japan’s notoriously long working hours, as well as a bid to boost productivity in the world’s third-largest economy. Opposition lawmakers and unions had criticized the plan, saying employees would not be compensated for additional work beyond the fixed overtime limit. To support his argument, Abe cited labor ministry data showing working hours for those under the discretionary work system could be shorter than for employees with normal work conditions. However, the opposition spotted dozens of inconsistencies in the data including absurdities like statistics showing overtime of “45 hours per day”, according to Japanese media.

Source: Manila Times March 01, 2018 10:52 UTC