Japan looks to jobs for elderly

By Jonathan Head
BBC Tokyo correspondent

Many of Japan's elderly are fit enough to keep working

The Japanese government has issued a report urging the creation of more jobs for elderly people in order to reduce demand on the national pension scheme.

The report warns that the number of people over 65 years old reached just under 20% of the population last year.

It is forecast to rise to more than a third by the middle of the century.

Earlier this week the government reported that the birth rate in Japan had fallen to its lowest level since records began.

Population statistics in Japan just keep getting gloomier. Despite a raft of measures over the past decade to try to stimulate the birth rate, every year fewer children are born and the elderly live longer.

The number of people over 90 is now more than a million.

To ease the strain on the pension system, last year the government passed a bill increasing payments by today's workforce, but decreasing the benefits they will eventually receive.

The measure was predictably unpopular, even more so when it was revealed that several politicians, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, had not kept up with their payments.

Today it is estimated that around 40% of younger workers simply refuse to contribute to a scheme they fear may be bankrupt by the time they retire.

Now the government is urging businesses to consider creating more jobs for the elderly, to stave off their retirement dates.

Given how fit and healthy many old people are these days, that is not such a far-fetched idea.

Two years ago a 99-year-old Japanese man skied down the slopes of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain.

The same year, his 70-year-old son became the oldest man to climb Mount Everest.