JAPAN: 20 million still lack pension record match

Hunt ends as pledged; Fukuda says keep at it TOKYO (The Japan Times - Kyodo News), March 15, 2008: About 20.25 million of the 50.95 million unidentified public pension accounts have still not been assigned, although the work to match records has been completed, government officials said Friday. The government kept its pledge to complete the matching work by the end of March, but the results fall far short of solving the problem given, that so many pension payment records remain unidentified. The situation was reported at a Friday morning meeting of related Cabinet ministers, the officials said. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reminded those attending the meeting of the importance of continuing the work, saying it is "important to think about what is necessary from the people's point of view rather than being constrained by past events and the interests of the organization." Fukuda asked Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe and the chief of the Social Insurance Agency to continue trying to identify the remaining pension records yet unaccounted for, emphasizing they have a "big responsibility." Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference that of the pension records identified so far, 11.72 million have been matched, while another 18.98 million were found to belong to deceased people or those who have withdrawn from the pension program. "The government as a whole will promote further efforts . . . to continue identifying" the remaining records to regain the public's trust in the pension system, the top government spokesman said. The Social Insurance Agency has faced difficulties identifying the holders of the accounts on its computer system. The revelation last year of the existence of 50.95 million unidentified pension accounts has become a major political issue. Compounding the problem, the Social Insurance Agency had dragged its feet on work that began in 1997 to integrate the accounts of different pension programs under a single identification number for each person. Some people hold more than one account number due to changes in employment, marital status and other factors. The pension record blunder issue was one of the main reasons for the crushing setback of the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc in a House of Councilors election last July. (C) The Japan Times