At the government meeting aimed at concrete measures to address the declining birthrate, experts held hearings on the theme of work style reform and other issues, and opinions were expressed calling for flexible operation of the childcare leave system and support for career continuation.

In order to materialize Prime Minister Kishida's goal of "measures to address the declining birthrate of different dimensions," the government held its fourth meeting on May 22 with the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and others.

At the outset, Minister Ogura said, "I would like to hear your frank opinions, such as what you are struggling with, what kind of system you should have, and whose awareness you would like to change, so that we can move forward toward solving long-standing issues at once and dispel anxiety about child-rearing."

After this, interviews were held with experts on the theme of promoting work style reform and enhancing the systems that support it.

Among them, Ayano Sakurai, who attended as a member of the younger generation, called for the establishment of a support system so that people do not give up on continuing their careers due to childbirth or child-rearing, and for expanding support for the self-employed, freelancers, and non-regular workers so that they can hope to have children in any way of working.

In addition, Professor Junya Tsutsui of Ritsumeikan University called for the flexible operation of the system, such as expanding partial employment during childcare leave, in order to improve the low rate of male employees taking childcare leave and the short period of childcare leave.

At the next meeting to be held next week, the government will hold hearings on how to deal with families raising children with disabilities, and then compile a basis for concrete measures by the end of this month.