Nursing care establishments are suffering from a severe labor shortage as many workers quit each year because of low wages and harsh working conditions. The government should realize that if this trend continues, the nation's nursing care system could collapse. Improving the wages and working conditions of nursing care workers will be imperative to secure a sufficient number of workers and, ultimately, better services.
In fiscal 2006 the government decreased benefits paid to nursing care establishments from the nursing care insurance plan by 2.4 percent to try to curb spending growth. But this has worsened the financial condition of nursing care establishments. Inasmuch as personnel costs take up a large percentage of operating costs, it was inevitable that such establishments would lower workers' wages.
In May, the Diet enacted a law to improve the working conditions of nursing care workers. But because of the difficulty in coming up with revenue sources, it failed to incorporate a concrete means of raising wages. Instead, it said the government should study measures to improve the wages and working conditions of nursing care workers by April 2009 and take relevant measures if necessary.