85 percent say they are anxious about life in old age

As Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro pushes ahead with his "structural reform"agenda, a survey shows that an increasing number of people feel anxious about their livelihood in old age.

In addition to the current economic recession and cutbacks in social services, the Koizumi government's policy of encouraging corporations to carry out further restructuring is deepening job insecurity, reported Akahata of April 10.

The government survey of 2002 shows that 84.7 percent of respondents do not have bright prospects for their old age.

Asked, "Does the world surrounding you move forward to greater comfort to live in?" 85.6 percent of people answer "No," and 53.3 percent said they are afraid they may lose their jobs.

According to the Bank of Japan, 44.6 percent of respondents last September said they had cut their expenses from the previous year, the main reason being that they felt insecure about their future work and income.

The number of respondents who said that they felt their pension and social insurance benefits would be reduced in future or that they were worried about a possible increase in the tax and social security burden was larger than in the survey conducted before the start of the Koizumi Cabinet. (end)