This study analyzes structural problems of the Japanese Public Pension Scheme in a rapidly changing socioeconomic environment; brought on by population aging and low economic growth. It also aims to present the direction of reforms proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan for the Public Pension Scheme, in order to resolve the above issues. Low economic growth has received relatively little attention compared to population aging in Korea, yet it should be carefully reviewed since increasing unemployment and hiring of greater numbers of temporary workers could affect the pension scheme.
First, this paper systematically presents structural features and problems of the Japanese Public Pension system. The Japanese Public Pension Scheme consists of the Basic Pension without independent finance, the employees’ Pension Insurance (pay-as-you go method based on the social insurance system), differences in burden among workers and wages depending on occupation and corporate burden of welfare pensions. Because of this apparently complicated structural feature, Japanese Public Pension Scheme is facing difficulty in responding to changes in the social environment such as population aging and low economic growth. As a result, Japan’s Public Pension Scheme is facing questions as to whether it is sustainable, since it could become a cause of instability in pension finance, inter- and intra-generational inequality and overall vulnerability of the social security system.
However, the Japanese government did not attempt radical reforms that could respond effectively to changes in the socioeconomic environment, but only paid attention to reform limited to ‘shoring up’ the present system, in that they only consider increases in the insurance rate and reduction of wages. It is a foregone conclusion that the restructuring of Japanese Pension Scheme, at the fundamental level, is very necessary. The nationwide consensus on the need for pension scheme reform definitely led to a new political environment, resulting in a change of government for the first time in 54 years.
Then, can we expect the Democratic Party (new regime) of Japan to solve pending issues and restructure the country’s Public Pension Scheme? It may be too early reach a final conclusion as the Democratic Party’s reform has yet hit full stride; however, it has revealed enough of its outline for evaluation on the direction of the reform and its practicability. A positive aspect in their reform proposal emerges in that it clearly considered environment change such as population aging and low economic growth. However, they have yet to discuss even the most basic elements for the implementation of minimum security pension in the form of taxes, making us question whether they are genuinely determined about reforms the pension.
Korean Public Pension Scheme faces similar issues with its Japanese counterpart, such as instability of pension finances, the question of fairness between generations and possible blind spots. This paper elicits several implications for Korea by analyzing the Japanese case. First, it is very important to figure out actual conditions of the Public Pension Scheme and then take preemptive action against population aging. Second, we need to pay attention to low economic growth since it creates blind spots in terms of pension benefits, which could threaten the stability of thepension finance system in a long term. Third, Korean pension scheme has received much attention in relation to low fertility and population aging, but not low economic growth. This paper emphasizes importance of improving the pension scheme to prepare for the twin threats in the form of population aging and low economic growth.

국문요약 

제1장 서론 
1. 문제제기와 연구목적 
2. 일본의 경제사회적 변화 
가. 고령화의 급진전 
나. 저성장 시대의 도래 

제2장 일본 공적연금제도의 특징 
1. 불완전한 전국민연금, 기초연금 
2. 공적연금의 재원조달과 급여 
3. 공적연금의 부담과 급여 
가. 부담 
나. 급여 
4. 기업의 복지부담 

제3장 공적연금제도의 주요 현안 
1. 불안정한 연금재정 
가. 국민연금재정 실태와 전망 
나. 후생연금재정 실태와 전망 
2. 세대내 불평등 - 비정규직 문제를 중심으로 
3. 세대간 불평등 - 현역ㆍ노령세대간 격차 
4. 취약한 사회보장기능 
가. 연금사각지대 발생 
나. 낮은 소득대체율ㆍ급여수준 

제4장 일본 공적연금 개혁의 전개과정과 과제 
1. 민주당 정부 이전의 공적연금 개혁 
2. 공적연금 개혁의 평가와 과제 
가. 연금재정 안정화 
나. 세대내ㆍ세대간 불평등 해소 
다. 사회보장기능 강화 

제5장 민주당 신정권의 연금개혁안 
1. 민주당 신정권 연금개혁안의 주요 내용 
가. 민주당의 연금 관련 중의원 선거공약 
나. 민주당의 ‘새로운 연금제도의 기본원칙’ 
2. 민주당 신정권의 공적연금 개혁방향  
가. 연금재정 안정화: 사회보험방식에서 조세방식으로 
나. 세대내ㆍ세대간 불평등 해소: 소득비례연금으로 일원화 
다. 사회보장기능 강화: 최저보장연금 창설 

제6장 결론 
1. 민주당의 연금개혁에 대한 종합 평가와 전망 
2. 한국에 대한 시사점 

참고문헌 

Executive Summary