Wakayama Fails to Hire Statutory Number of People with Disabilities

By Barrier Free Japan

March 30 2026

WAKAYAMA – The Wakayama Labor Bureau announced on March 27th that it had issued recommendations, dated the 25th, to three municipalities – Kinokawa, Shirahama, and Kushimoto – urging them to ensure appropriate hiring, on the grounds that they had failed to meet the legally mandated employment rate for persons with disabilities and had shown no improvement.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on March 29 that according to the announcement, as of June 1, 2024, the three municipalities did not meet the statutory employment rate of 2.8% for persons with disabilities under the Act on Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities. As a result, they formulated employment plans for hiring persons with disabilities as required by the law. However, despite guidance from the bureau aimed at achieving the target, the situation had not improved by the deadline of the end of December 2025.