The House of Councilors passed a bill Friday to help middle-aged and elderly workers who lose their jobs to secure new employment via initiatives such as employer subsidies.

The measures featured in the legislation, which will take effect Jan. 1, will be good through March 31, 2005.

The government hopes the measures will lead to employment for 100,000, or 2.85 percent, of the nation's 3.5 million unemployed. In October, Japan's unemployment rate hit a record high 5.4 percent.

Even more people are expected to lose their jobs as major banks cut their loans to struggling companies and the government in turn presses banks to cut back on the balance of problem loans.

Under the legislation, jobless people over the age of 45 who are currently receiving job training under public aid programs will be entitled to continue receiving state allowances in order to undergo further professional training.

It also lengthens to three years the current one-year period that workers dispatched from temporary employment agencies are allowed to work -- as long as such workers are aged 45 or over.

The legislation also creates a new subsidy system that applies to midsize and small firms that hire middle-aged or elderly workers with the purpose of diversifying into new businesses.

It empowers the government to provide such firms with money equivalent to 25 percent of the annual wages of newly hired employees.