JAPAN: Higher Nursing-Care Wages Urged

TOKYO (The Japan Times - Kyodo News), December 9, 2007: A welfare ministry panel has compiled a proposal urging nursing-care companies to raise wages to help address the industry's labor shortage, sources close to the panel said Saturday. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will take measures to improve the nursing-care system in accordance with the proposal next fiscal year, the sources said. Acknowledging that the labor shortage is being caused mainly by low wages, the panel asks nursing-care companies to make sure regional differences in wage standards are reflected when paying employees. The labor scarcity in the care industry is more serious in urban areas, where wage levels in other industries are higher than in rural districts Copyright: The Japan Times Ltd.