Japan's economic growth likely to fall below 1pc in 2020s

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TOKYO, July 22 (Xinhua): Japan's economy may grow at an annual rate of less than one per cent in the 2020s, said an annual report released by the government today.

The projection was made on the grounds that aging and shrinking population, capital input growth and the employment rate remain at their current levels, according to the cabinet office's annual report on the Japanese economy and public finance 2008.

The government needs to adopt measures to boost productivity, capital input and the labour force, said the report, proposing measures to attract more highly skilled workers from abroad in particular.

Foreign workers constituted only 1.1 per cent of Japan's overall workforce in 2006 while those in major European countries accounted for 5 to 9 per cent between 2003 and 2005, said the report.