Japan to Provide Child-Rearing Support Allowance of 20,000 Yen per Child

Tokyo, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will provide all households with children aged zero to 18 with a support allowance of 20,000 yen per child as a one-time measure, the Children and Families Agency said Friday. The support allowance, a pillar of the government’s new comprehensive economic measures, will be deposited into the bank accounts used for child allowance payments via municipalities around next spring. Also, to support low-income households raising children, including single-parent families, the government will expand the menu of an existing priority support local grant program so that municipalities can utilize it to provide cash benefits in addition to the new support allowance. Furthermore, the government will strengthen its support for the operations of “kodomo shokudo” cafeterias providing meals mainly to needy children for free or at low prices and its measures to promote the employment of parents and other guardians. The government will also work on improving nursery school teachers’ working conditions, raising their official personnel costs set by the state by 5.3 pct retroactively to April. This will result in an increase of around 200,000 yen in annual income, according to an estimate based on average wages of nursery teachers. In addition, in light of soaring prices in the country, the government will provide additional payments and subsidies for the operating costs of nursery schools and children’s homes. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]