A bill to revise the National Public Service Law, intended to strengthen Cabinet members' control over national public servants, is before the Diet. The Cabinet decided May 21 to cut by 39 percent the recruitment of national public servants in fiscal 2011, but there appears to be confusion in the Hatoyama administration's policy toward national public servants.
To make good on the Democratic Party of Japan's campaign promise to cut personnel costs for national public servants by 20 percent, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama originally hoped to halve new recruitment. But he gave in to opposition from Cabinet members who argued that the number of public servants in the field of security and safety, such as prison guards and Japan Coast Guard workers, should not be reduced.
As part of its efforts to keep the DPJ promise, the Hatoyama administration plans to cut new recruitment at regional offices of government ministries by 80 percent, which will deprive many young people of employment opportunities. This awkward approach is due to the administration's failure to begin work to revise the law governing national public servants' wages. It's difficult to see how the DPJ promise can be met without such a revision, which will enable wage reductions.