It is billed as a "reform toward creative and highly productive ways of work." The Abe administration is pushing to exempt certain kinds of workers from the work-hour regulations under the Labor Standards Law as one feature of its economic growth strategy to be adopted later this month. What are missing from the discussion are the viewpoints of workers and the labor organizations that represent their interests.

The Labor Standards Law limits the work hours of employed workers to eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, and requires employers to pay overtime wages when employees work beyond these limits, with the exception of those in managerial positions. The administration's plan calls for lifting the limits on certain categories of workers so that they will be compensated on the basis of their work performance, not the hours they spend in the office.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who with his pro-business agenda has targeted labor regulations as obstacles to improvement in the competitiveness of Japanese companies, denies that the plan is meant to cut overtime costs for businesses. In ordering the government's industrial competitiveness panel to review work-hour regulations, Abe said the workers themselves would choose whether to be exempt from the work-hour regulations.