It's been three months since the 3/11 earthquake--Part 3: The disaster happened at the worst time

The 3/11 earthquake hit Japan when there was were a signs that the Japanese economy was finally turning up. Upon looking at the world situation, I would say that the disaster happened at the worst time. About two weeks ago, US president Obama officially stated that the 3/11 catastrophe in Japan posed economic risks and had partly aggravated a domestic recovery that was showing signs of slowing down. Some countries in the Middle east and Africa have been unstable due to revolutions and riots, which has been affecting the crude oil price. Europe has destabilizing factors like Greece's financial crisis. In Athens, there was a massive demonstration against new fiscal austerity measures a few days ago, and the protest became violent. In China, which has been recently playing a leading role in the economy, the government has been having difficulty dealing with a surge in inflation. It seems that a lot of ordinary people are frustrated to the point where it is becoming a destabilizing factor.

Anyway, a few days ago, it was announced that in March, the number of people on welfare in Japan had reached two millions for the first time in the past half century. Although the number includes some victims who lost their jobs due to the 3/11 disaster, this is mainly because a lot of temporary workers were fired due to the so-called Lehman shock and many of them haven't found a job yet. It's been pointed out that since some of them had difficulty finding a stable job, they have stopped looking for work despite still being young , and then they ended up relying on welfare. As for the victims, it's been projected that many others have already applied for welfare benefits in the past few months, and those who are currently living on unemployment insurance benefits will apply for welfare benefits in autumn if they can't get a job before the insurance benefits are over. Some companies in disaster-struck areas have been making great efforts to get their businesses back to normal as soon as possible without firing or laying off their employees, but they are facing a harsh reality.

Other than that, Japan is under pressure from IMF to increase in tax in order to avert a financial crisis. Today, the tax reform bill was announced as if our government responds to the IMF requirement. If the bill passes Parliament, taxes on consumption, income and inheritance will be raised. Moreover, I often hear that since the catastrophe has economically affected many other countries, they really hope that Japan will recover as soon as possible. In a major high-tech electronics factory whose products occupy a high global market share, a lot of engineers from other companies worldwide have been working hard to help the factory get back to normal as soon as possible.