Japan is offering employment subsidies to organisations that improve their productivity. So ‘winning’ companies get a double boost.
Is this a sensible role for government – to reward the successful?
One reason for their action is to prevent companies from using job cuts to fuel growth.
What does matter is that the aims of any government intervention are clear – and seen to be fair.
And, as a general rule, government should not ‘shore up’ the unsuccessful and uncompetitive.
So, perhaps this is a valuable experiment. Certainly I will be interested to see the results.
Japan currently ranks 22nd out of 34 OECD countries for its productivity. Perhaps this initiative can move it up the list.