The ruling coalition parties agreed Thursday to convene an extraordinary Diet session, dubbed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as an "unemployment-tackling session," on Sept. 27, senior members of the triumvirate said.
The session is expected to continue through early December.
Also during their gathering, coalition executives decided to set up a council to deal with the surge in unemployment. The July jobless rate, announced earlier this week, hit a record-high 5 percent.
The council will consist of secretaries general, policy chiefs and Diet affairs committee chiefs of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party.
The coalition agreed to place priority during the upcoming Diet session on a bill to create a government-backed body to absorb stocks from banks' unwound cross-shareholdings.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.