Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy-setting panel called Monday for a greater than 5 percent cut in the number of national government employees over a five-year period as part of efforts to pare down the bureaucracy.
The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy said in a guideline on reforming government personnel costs that the government should slash government employees, excluding Japan Post workers, by more than 5 percent on a net basis over five years. There are currently 687,000 national civil servants.
The cuts would apply to the 332,000 employees at government ministries and agencies.
Personnel in the Self-Defense Forces, the Diet, the courts, the Board of Audit and the National Personnel Authority will also be subject to reduction, but the council has yet to outline specific targets for them.
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