Civil service recruits slashed 39%

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Kyodo News

The government said Friday it will reduce the hiring of national civil servants by 39 percent in fiscal 2011 from fiscal 2009, which ended in March.

The reduction still represents a setback for the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who instructed his ministers last month to halve new hiring in the public service in the next fiscal year starting on April 1, 2011.

As the hiring of prison, coast guard and immigration officers will be exempted from the cut, the rate of reduction for other types of civil servants would stand at 50.7 percent.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi told reporters the government exempted public safety and security sectors from the cut, saying the hiring for other sectors would be halved.

By organization, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry topped the list with a 50 percent cut, followed by the Finance Ministry at 45 percent.

Haraguchi said the government will try its hardest to hold down personnel costs, as it has long been under severe financial conditions.

The government plans to terminate "amakudari" practices by early retirees and allow civil servants to work until the age limit, Haraguchi said.

Amakudari is the practice of retiring government officials taking highly paid posts at government-affiliated organizations or private-sector firms.

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