Japan government revises paternity leave to promote time off

The Japanese government has drafted a law revision to the country’s regulation on paternity leave to encourage more men to take leave for the birth of their child, according to NHK World.

Under the revised draft, male employees would be able to take four weeks of leave within eight weeks from the birth of their child. 

The country’s paternity leave regulation currently requires fathers to apply for the leave a month in advance, while the revised measure would cut it down to two weeks ahead. Employees would also be able to split the leave into two periods.

The government has been encouraging men in the workforce to take paternity leave, but the practice is not common in Japan, which suffers from a declining birth rate. 

The revised bill by the government would require companies to have their employees informed about the measures. Large corporations will also have to publicise how many of their staff take paternity leave. 

READ: Japan looks to implement more flexible paternity leave

The government aims to increase the proportion of men taking paternity leave to 30% by 2025, increasing it from 7.48% in the fiscal year ending March 2020. 

In fiscal year 2019, 16.4% of eligible male central government workers took child care leave in Japan, an increase of 4 percentage points compared to the previous fiscal year ending March 2019, said Taro Kono, minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reform.