ZCZC
BCN-20
JAPAN-ECONOMY-INDICATOR-BUDGET
Japan forced to amend budget over dodgy data scandal
TOKYO, Jan 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Japan said Friday it will have to amend
its upcoming budget to fund compensation for people whose benefits were
incorrectly paid for years because of a scandal involving incorrect labour
data.
The labour ministry admitted this week that it has for years failed to
collect complete data for its monthly employment report, which is closely
watched as an indicator of wages and work hours.
The data helps determine various government benefits, including employment
insurance.
Officials are supposed to gather data from all firms with 500 or more
employees but in Tokyo, only about one third of 1,400 such firms were
surveyed.
Local media said the scandal could date back more than a decade and a total
of 53 billion yen ($490 millions dollars) would be repaid to 20 million
workers.
“I have received a report from the labour and welfare ministry that they
need to provide employment insurance and other payments retroactively,” top
government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
“We will make adjustments to make a necessary budget allocation in the
fiscal 2019 budget” for the year starting in April, he said.
He gave no details on how much would need to be repaid, and added that the
government was now probing dozens of other major data sets.
The labour minister has admitted he received a report about the problem as
early as December 20.
The ministry nevertheless went ahead and published data on December 21 and
January 9 that it knew had sampling problems, raising questions about the
reliability of official statistics in the world’s third-biggest economy.
The monthly labour survey has been watched by the government and the Bank
of Japan as a clue for their economic policy decisions.
Suga said it was “extremely regrettable” that confidence in the survey was
shaken.
BSS/AFP/HR/1035