Gov't to pay travel costs of returning workers with Japanese ancestry+

TOKYO, March 31 Kyodo - The labor ministry said Tuesday it will shoulder the one-way travel costs of foreign workers of Japanese ancestry returning to their home countries from Wednesday, providing 300,000 yen per person.

For family members of the workers, the government will provide 200,000 yen per
person, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.
In cases where the migrant workers have been receiving benefits from the
government-backed unemployment insurance program, the government will add a
certain premium to the payments for travel costs, it said.
The ministry has devised the new aid program because a growing number of
foreign migrant workers are losing their jobs amid the economic downturn.
Workers who use the benefits to return to their home countries will not be
allowed to reenter Japan under residential qualifications based on their status
as persons of Japanese ancestry, it said.
The travel assistance program is part of a package of measures drawn up in
mid-March by a ruling-coalition task force on issues related to unemployment.
==Kyodo
2009-03-31 23:37:43